Finding Home
by 000janedoe000
Summary: Stefan has left Elena to care for their children, and Damon comes back after 4 years he finds that their relationship has been rocky since before the youngest was born. But when he come in and takes over the male role in the household what happens? How does Stefan react when he isn't welcomed home with a hug from his family. DELENA AH *Please read and Review!*
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**Elena POV**

Elena sighed as she finished frosting the light blue on to the last of the 50 cupcakes she had to have done by the pickup which was in about an hour. Normally she didn't run behind on the orders, but since things at home weren't exactly working out, she found herself distracted and it was starting to affect her work.

"Elena, are you ok?" Her best friend Caroline asked.

"What yeah I'm fine." She sighed setting down the pastry bag, she turned to look at her friend who was finishing adding on frosting on top in shapes of diapers, booties, and pacifiers. "No, I don't know."

"Talk to me Elena." Caroline said looking up at the brunette; she had to stop herself from smiling at her friend who had blue frosting across her cheek.

"Well it's just the kids keep asking when their daddies coming home, and I don't know what to say because, I don't think he is. It's been nearly 2 months Caroline. There both too young to realize it, but I know Liam thinks something up." Elena said thinking about her two Beautiful kids who were at their Uncle Jeremy's house. Both kids had their mother's hair, Liam had Stefan's green eyes and Addison had her mom's hazel eyes. Liam is 4 years old and Addison is two years old. Elena figured problems started between her and Stefan a few months before they figured out Elena was pregnant again this time with their daughter.

"What did you tell them?" Caroline asked.

"I told them I wasn't sure." She replied and went to grab a large box to begin to place the finished cupcakes into it.

"Elena, hun you did the right thing. Stefan was cheating on you, and abused you. Both of which make him a bad husband and father to you and those two kids." Caroline said. "You did nothing wrong."

"Thanks, Care."

"It's the truth."

Both girls went back to working in silence, Elena was ready to hang up her apron and go pick up her kids and take them home. She only had a few more hours to go but she wasn't thrilled about it. She went over to their shared desk, and frowned at how unorganized it was and everything was piled up upon it. She moved some of their papers and looked at their calendar to look at the next order they needed to fill. It was for a retirement party; the man's wife brought them an idea and helped the girls plan it out, and wanted to pick it up on Thursday. The wife wanted a flat sheet of Europe and then make certain landmarks out of fondant with little figures of them, because that was the man's goal after he retires, was to travel around Europe. They also had a little girl's birthday cake to plan for the same day, so the girls would definitely be working weird long hours. Once Caroline moved the finished order to the fridge, she was back at the work table as Elena was looking over both order forms.

"What's up next?" Caroline asked sitting on the stool next to Elena.

"Well we have the little girls birthday and the man's retirement cake, so which do you think you want to do?" Elena asked.

"I'll do the retirement cake." Caroline said smiling.

"Alright, I'm going to work on the girls." Elena said happy that Caroline let her have the girl's cake. Elena looked over the mom's and the little girl's cake ideas. The girl wasn't very specific, the girl wanted stripes, polka dots on the cake, she said she wanted it to be bright and remind her of candy.

Elena walked into the front of the store and sat her things down she needed to plan out the cake. She wasn't getting anywhere when the store's chimes went off and saw looked up to see her friend Matt coming into the store, she figured he wasn't here to see her, but Caroline who was his girlfriend. Elena looked at Matt and smiled. "She's in back." And then returned to look at her sketch.

"Thanks." Matt said before walking behind the counter and into the back room. She started sketching the basic to the cake, deciding that it was going to be a small 3 tier cake. The bottom was going to have up and down strips, each strip was going to be a different color and she was going to make it going in a rainbow pattern, the middle section is going to be green with a pink ribbon wrapped around it –made of fondant. And the top tear is going to have a white background with different, color and shape polka dots on the top. Then to top off the detail she was going to put a big rainbow lollipop and then the seams of each tear were going to be lined with gob smackers, also in the pattern of a rainbow. Looking at her calendar and schedule she decided that she was going to have to start cooking the cake today, and make sure she did it right, she didn't have time for the cakes to turn out wrong. Then she would let it cool and set, and then tomorrow (Tuesday) she was going to the store to pick up some gob smackers before she came into work to start the fondant coloring. She started to make the vanilla cake by scratch and then began on the lemon frosting the girl decided she wanted.

She was just finishing sealing the icing when the cake was almost cooled down and settled. She was just waiting the last five minutes when the cake was finishing to drop and then was ready to be stored in the refrigerator. She cleaned up her area and then hung up her apron. After saying goodbye to Caroline she walked out the door and was more than happy to go pick up her kids.

Elena pulled up into the driveway. She knocked on the door and was smiling when Anna, Jeremy's longtime girlfriend, of nearly a year open the door. Elena was trying not the laugh as she saw Anna's hair and knew that she let Addie play with it. Anna's long black hair was in many halfway done ponytails and had many hair clips hanging from her head.

"Hey Elena come on in, Jeremy and Liam are just picking up." Anna said motioning Elena inside their rented house.

"Thanks for watching them; you don't know how much it means to me." Elena said grateful that her family and friends still stood by her even though her husband didn't.

"We love to they are amazing kids Elena, you've done an amazing job." Anna said with a smile.

"Thanks." Elena said.

The two girls could hear Jeremy's heavy steps walking towards them, and little giggling following. He entered the door way and they saw that he was weighed down by the two little ones. Addie was holding onto the back of his neck, trying not to fall off the piggy back ride, while Liam was sitting on Jeremy's foot, clinging to his leg.

"Mommy." The Addie cried out and then began struggling to get down. Liam hopped off his uncle's leg and went to hop into his moms arms.

"Hey Baby" Elena said picking him up. Jeremy released Addison and she ran to her mom and began tugging on her jeans trying to get her mom's attention.

"Hey Bug." She said setting Liam down and then picked up her baby girl. Addie threw her arms around her mother's neck and then kissed her.

"Was I missed." Elena laughed as she could feel her daughter nod into her neck.

"Thanks again for watching them guys. I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yup. Drive safe sis." Jeremy said wrapping his older sister in his arms.

"Thanks Jer." She said. She walked outside and got them both into their car seats and then reversed out of the driveway.

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**This is a new shot at a DELENA story. I have been sitting on this idea for a while but I'm not really sure how I feel about it. If you could please read and review and tell me what you think I could really use the advice.**

**Thanks**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here****s the second chapter just so you could see where I was thinking about going with the story. Please Review**

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**Chapter 2**

**Damon POV.**

Damon sat on the front stoop, waiting for the family to get home, he was waiting to surprise them and see if he could stay and visit. Even though he didn't call a head he still wished they would hurry up he was getting impatient, and was about to stand up and head to his Camaro when a small red car pulled into the driveway. He could only see the side of the woman's face, her long brown locks hid, it from view. He stood up to greet them. The woman looked slightly up at him and then went to unbuckle her son, and then went to the other side and picked up her little two-year old daughter.

"Hey Elena, how's my favorite sister-in-law doing?" He asked with a slight smirk.

"Damon." She sighed, not pleased at all to see him. She grabbed her purse resting the little girl on her hip. Elena walked up to him, getting ready to pass him wanting to go to the front door. One thing Damon noticed as she passed was that the little boy who looked to be about 4 had his hand stuck in her back pocket, as if seeking the slightest comfort.

"Is this little Liam? And who's this little Squirt?" Damon asked addressing the children.

"Yup Liam's four he's turning five soon, and this is Addison she just turned two." Elena said dismissing him.

Damon followed her to the door grabbing his duffel that was laying on the stoop he walked inside the open door behind her, closing it as he entered.

"Why the cold shoulder?" Damon asked.

"Stefan's not here Damon." Elena said setting Addison down and then went into the cupboard to plan what was for dinner. Elena has only hung out with her brother in-law once in a while. The last time she saw him was when Liam turned 1. She knew that Damon and Stefan didn't get along, and Damon was busy going after his dream to be a successful professional architect. She liked him and most of the time got along with him, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with any Salvatore's' especially the sarcastic mocking playboy.

"That's ok I'll wait for him to get home." Damon said.

"Well you're going to be waiting for a long time." She snapped pulling out some spaghetti noodles, sauce, and meatballs.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked frowning.

"Well let's see he left in the middle of the night –two months ago, so yeah I don't think he's coming back any time soon." Elena said running her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"What happened?" He asked standing up walking behind the island to talk to her.

"People change." Was all she could bare to say.

"Elena- I'm sorry I had no idea." Damon said. She looked into his blue eyes and she could actually see the sorry shinning in them.

"It's not your fault." She said as she started to boil the water.

"I was planning on visiting the family, but if you want I can go stay at a hotel." Damon said.

"No you can stay in the bedroom." She said.

"I don't want to put you out of a bed." Damon objected knowing that the small house only had two bedrooms. He honestly was surprised that they lived in such a small house, Damon knew Stefan was successful reporter who could easily afford a bigger and better place than this.

"No I haven't been sleeping there anyway." Elena said with a small sad smile. She took off the pots lid and began to put the noodles in, while then she started another pan up to heat the tomato sauce up in.

"Liam, I want you to go find your soccer ball, your shoes and your socks." Elena instructed.

"Yes mommy." Liam said running in the directions of the bedrooms.

"You can help yourself to anything in the fridge, if you need me to pick up anything there's a grocery list on the side of the fridge and I can pick whatever it is the next time I shop." Elena said looking at Damon.

"Thanks." Damon said.

"Mhm." She nodded and then began to set the table. She was exhausted and couldn't wait till she was able to put the kids down for the night, so she could sit back put her feet back and relax. She watched Damon move from the corner of her eyes as he moved to sit on the floor next to Addison who was playing with some big Lego blocks.

She was just about to serve the dishes when she heard a giggling coming from over in the living area. The sight before her made it hard not to laugh herself, Addison was standing behind Damon, who was letting her put barrettes in his ruffled ear length hair.

"Mommy look at 'is 'air." Addison said as Elena walked closer to her daughter to acknowledge what she was trying to talk about.

"It's beautiful Addie. Uncle Damon looks much better." Elena laughed, while Damon glared up at her.

"Unkie 'Amon?" Addison asked in question as she stood behind him holding on to his shoulders to peek out over at his face,

"Yup, Uncle Damon." Elena nodded.

"Dinners ready Addie, why don't you go find your brother." Elena said smiling. Elena carried over the plate and set them in front of each spot.

"Damon do you want a beer or something?" Elena asked.

"Is that as strong as you have?" Damon asked.

"Yeah well there for my brother." Elena said. " I don't drink."

"You don't drink?" Damon asked shocked.

"No I don't like to get drunk, and I don't like how it makes others drunk."

" What happened to fun Elena." Damon smirked slightly remembering the woman in front of him to be a little bit wilder.

"Well I had two kids and my husband left me, someone has to be the responsible one." Elena retorted coldly.

"Very true." Damon said.

Elena sat down at the table and then they all began to eat. Both adults were silent, Elena wasn't sure what to say to her brother in law and Damon was trying to conclude what happened between her and his little brother- but he wasn't quite sure what would make his little rule abiding brother to leave his wife and young children. Despite the adults being silent, both kids were keeping them entertained. Elena knew that kids liked to eat spaghetti, it was one of their favorites but it turned out to be a very messy affair. Addison was covered in sauce and odd noodles; she even had a few noodles on the top of her hair. Liam was cleaner; however he did have sauce all around his mouth. She smiled at the sight of her kids and as soon as they were done she had them hop into a bath together.

Elena left Damon to watch some TV while she helped them get cleaned up and ready for bed. She laid them both in bed and then tucked them in with a hug and a kiss good night. She walked to the door and shut off the light, and closed the door leaving a crack. She walked into the living room to see Damon lying on the couch watching a baseball game. She rolled her eyes slightly to walk into the kitchen to begin to clean it up.

"So what brings you around Damon?" Elena asked.

"I came to see the family."

"You haven't bothered to before." Elena pointed out.

"Well I was in the mood to come and see my family, is that ok with you?"

"Just seems a little weird to have you suddenly show up out of the blue."

"If you want me to leave Elena, then just say the word and I'll go." Damon sighed.

"No I want the kids to get to know their uncle – Liam especially could use more male role models to look up too….not sure if you count though.." She muttered the last part to herself as she set the dirty dishes in the dish washer.

"I'm going to head to bed, there's a TV in the bed room you can watch." Elena said pointedly, trying to get him to get off the couch so she could pull out the pull out bed and then go to sleep.

"Alright thanks, are you sure you don't want me to take the couch?" Damon asked.

"Nope you're fine." She said as he got off the couch. She led him into her bedroom and told him that the bathroom was next door, and she would find him some hangers if he needed them. He thanked her and then she grabbed some of her pajamas so she could go to bed.

She was laying on the pull out and before her thoughts could lead her astray, she was out for the night.

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**Please review. Every review means a lot to me. I can't promise that the chapters will be that long, but I am trying to make the chapters a little longer as I go. I am writing chapter five and am working on staying ahead. I would like to post the next chapter when I get at least 5 or more Reviews. Thanks for reading, I hope your enjoying the story so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I would just like to take a moment and thank all who have read the story and reviewed. Every single one made me so happy! Thanks to all who have favorited my story and who are following it. Please read the latest chapter and tell me what you think.**

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**Chapter 3**

When Damon woke up in the morning he felt like he slept better than he's ever had before. His pillow smelled of fruity shampoo – he figured he was sleeping on Elena's side of the bed, and if he wasn't then there's something going on with Stefan. He looked over at the alarm clock and saw it was getting closer to 6:30am so he quietly walked out of the room and was surprised when he saw Elena still in bed, but she also had two other ones lying with her. He smiled slightly and then walked into the kitchen area to make some breakfast. He was looking in the cupboards to find something good to make when he decided upon some pancakes, eggs, bacon and some fresh fruit. He enjoyed working on fun drafts, he was also had the hobby of cooking and creating meals. There was something about working in the kitchen he loved, there were a lot of options and possibilities that could be made. One of the reasons he thought he loved cooking so much was that before his mom died when he was young, together they would spend a lot of time cooking together, just them – it was the one time he didn't have to compete with Stefan for her attention. Stefan was always a daddy's boy, still was even to this date, which was of the many reasons why the brothers had a hard time getting along.

He was just finishing the pancakes when he heard soft feet padding towards the kitchen island. He smiled as he saw Liam walking to him rubbing his eyes, his hair was tossed, looked tired.

"Good morning Liam." Damon said softly knowing the boy was a little shy.

"Morrr-ning." Liam yawned.

"Why don't you sit at the table and I'll bring you over some breakfast." Damon said smiling at the child.

"Thanks.' Liam said hesitantly as Damon set a plate in front of him. Damon couldn't blame the boy for not knowing what to think about him. Damon wasn't expecting for him to just welcome him since he had a feeling that Liam didn't really remember him.

Elena woke up to a delicious smelling meal, and rolled over slightly away from Addison to look at the clock. She cursed to herself when she saw that it was nearly 7am. She was running late already and she still needed to get the kids up and ready for the day, along with herself. She was also curious at what Damon was going to do today, by himself. She slowly sat up and was surprised to see Liam and Damon sitting at the table giggling slightly to themselves.

"Good morning." She said to the boys. She looked over at Addison and saw that she too was also beginning to wake up. Elena scooped her out of bed and then walked towards the table. Damon who got up to work on getting the two ladies a plate a round, was surprised when he saw his sister in law wearing nothing more than a long tee shirt to cover up her purple boy shorts he got a glance at when she picked up Addison and pulled her to her hip causing her shirt to slide up a little bit.

"Morning." Damon said setting a plate down for her and then going back to grab her a cup of coffee.

"Wow Damon you didn't have to do all this." Elena said looking around at the semi feast that he had made..

"I wanted to, it was no big deal I love to cook."

"Really." She said taking a bite out of it. "mhm this is amazing."

Elena couldn't think of the last time when someone made her dinner or even made her a good cup of coffee. Stefan was usually all about himself, or at least he was when she got pregnant with Addison.

"Good I'm glad you liked it." Damon smiled. "So what are you doing today?"

He took a sip of his black coffee, while he watched Addison stick a pancake bite into her mouth. The little girl seemed to love them, and Liam already said that he liked the food. While the girls were still sleeping Damon and Liam got to know each other a little bit, Liam was still a little hesitant about him, but he was able to figure out that Liam's favorite color is Green, he hated when Addison would steal his toys, he played soccer and that he didn't get to see his Daddy all that much because "he was mean to mommy" as Liam put it.

"Well I usually get up, get the kids around, get myself around and then take them to my brothers so I can go to work but I really need to go to the store and then go into work, before Caroline flips out." Elena said. "You're more than welcome to come and go as you wish."

"Ann'ie Ollie!" The little girl giggled causing everyone to look and smile at her.

"Yup Auntie Caroline." Elena nodded whipping a piece of pancake off the girl's cheek.

"Where do you work at?" Damon asked.

"Caroline and I co- own a bakery." Elena said.

"Really? How's that doing for you?"

"It's actually going a lot better than I thought it would."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

"Do you think I could see it sometime?" Damon asked.

"Yeah that's fine."

"Aright when?"

"You can come today if you want? I mean you just got here and I don't want to bore you." Elena said.

"You're not a bore Elena." Damon said to reassure her, the way she sounded when she said it made him think that she really believed that- like she's been told that many of times.

"Thanks." She whispered not looking at him when she said it.

"What else are you doing today?

"I have to go to the grocery store, add whatever onto the list and I'll pick it up for you today. I want you to think of some things you would like to eat so I can get the ingredients."

"Alright."

"And Liam has soccer practice today but you can stay here."

"Alright," Damon said. "Did you want me to go to the store with you?"

"Only if you want to." Elena said

"I do." Damon said.

"We'll leave in about 30 minutes." Elena said getting up to grab a washcloth to clean off Addie's face. She wiped off Addison's face, arms and then her hands trying to get rid of the stickiness. Then she picked her up and set her onto the floor.

"Let's get you dressed little bug." Elena said and then Addison ran off into her bedroom, giggling on the way.

Elena helped Addison pick out and get dressed, and then she went into her own bedroom to get dressed. Elena picked out a simple form fitting pair of jeans and a light brown slender waist shirt. By the time she walked out into the living room she saw that everyone was ready to be on their way. She picked up her keys to her red little Toyota, her clutch wallet, and then slide on her brown slide on converse and then opened the front door. Addison ran ahead to the car while Liam stayed behind to walk with his mom. Damon noticed that Liam's small little hand went right into the back pocket of Elena's jeans. Damon made a mental note to ask Elena what that was all about. Damon climbed into the passenger seat, while Elena got the kids situated. While he was waiting he pulled out his blackberry and checked over his emails. He noticed that the company sent him an email and he immediately opened it. It was a new project of a new hotel that they wanted him to design, plan out and then make a presentation to the client in about 4 weeks.

Damon was so focused on looking at the email details that he didn't even notice that they were sitting outside of the grocery store.

"Hey are you coming?" Elena asked pulling Addison onto her hip.

"Yeah, sorry." Damon nodded and then climbed out.

They walked into the store; Damon grabbed a cart and then moved so Elena could set Addison in the back of the cart. Liam was still holding onto her back pocket, and was walking between the two adults. She was walking down all the needed aisles adding whatever item she needed. Damon took this as a chance to really look at her and see how she's changed in the last four years. He noticed that she was slightly paler, skinnier and she looked extremely tired- he couldn't help but wonder why Stefan messed up the best thing in his life. Damon was jealous when he found out Stefan found a beautiful, smart woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. On the few family gatherings he did get to spend with her, he knew that Stefan was never going to be good enough for her, he was just lucky that he was the one that snatched her up.

"So what would you like for dinner tonight?" Elena asked as she put three gallons of milk in the cart, and a ton of eggs.

"Why three gallons of milk?" Damon asked ignoring her question.

"For the bakery." Elena explained.

"Ok. Um I don't care whatever you want." Damon answered the forgotten question.

"Alright well do hamburgers sound good, I can make them on the grill." She asked.

"Perfect." Damon said.

They continued to walk down the aisles. Liam went back and forth trying to get Elena to agree on different foods, and she finally told him that if he was good he could get the Dinosaur fruit snacks he loves.

After getting the few things Elena needed to get for the Bakery and Liam's fruit snacks they went through the check out. As they got to the car, Elena buckled up Addie and then told Liam to get in the car. Damon watched as once again Liam let go of Elena's back pocket and went around getting in his seat.

"Why does he do that?" Damon asked once Liam shut his door and couldn't hear him.

"Do what?" She asked.

"He holds onto your back pocket."

"Were just close, he's had a rough childhood. Stefan wasn't the best person for him to be around."

"What did Stefan do?" Damon asked really wanting to know what was going on with them.

"Later." She said shutting the trunk and then gestured for him to get in the car.

"All right." Damon agreed nodding.

Damon waited in the car while Elena took the kids inside Jeremy Gilbert's house. He figured that Elena was probably going to warn her brother that he was here and then come back out. Damon and Jeremy haven't always got along; Jeremy saw Damon as a jerk and always warned Elena about getting too close to him.

Damon went through his phone until Elena came out of the house. He really needed to start on the drafts for the client, but he needed to lay out all of the details he had and then get organized about the game plan. Once Elena got into the car he dropped his phone into the cup holder and waited until she would start talking.

Elena didn't start talking until they were nearly two blocks away. He could tell that she was having a hard time thinking of what to say to him.

"Liam and Stefan never got along. Stefan would leave for business without so much as a good bye to Liam, you know how his work would get, he would be gone for weeks at a time. Even when Stefan was home he never really paid attention to Liam. He just wasn't ready to be a father."

"But you guys had Addison?" Damon asked confused.

"That's when things changed. Stefan wasn't even there for her birth. Jeremy was by my side while I was in labor. Stefan didn't want to have Addison. He missed out on so much between the kids' lives. He's missed everything important first walk, first words, everything that mattered. Our relationship just fell apart."

"When Liam and I were talking, he said 'daddy was mean to you.' What does that mean?" Damon asked his brows furred at what he was hearing about his brother. He didn't think she was lying, Damon knew Stefan could be.

"Uh, Sometimes Stefan would get really upset he..." She paused not wanting to say anything about the past treatment she would receive.

"Elena, what did he do?" Damon asked slowly his anger at his brother rising. He had a feeling he knew where she was heading but he couldn't believe that Stefan would start abusing his wife but on the other hand he knew Stefan had a big temper.

"He used to hit me." She whispered not looking at him.

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**AN: Thanks for reading, don't be shy to leave a review. Everyone i get is motivation to keep writing. I have decided that I will be posting every Thursday, so please check back next week for the Chapter 4.**

**It would also be really great if i could get at least 5 reviews.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Once again that you to all the wonderful reader who has taken the time to read adn review my story.**

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**Chapter 4**

"He used to hit me." She whispered.

"He hit you?" Damon said swallowing not expecting to hear that come out of her mouth.

"Yes." She said quietly.

"Elena pull over." Damon requested seeing how distressed it was making her. She did as he asked and pulled over to the side of the road and then turned the car off.

"Has he hit the kids?" Damon asked gently trying not to make her more upset.

"Liam, only once I tried to stop him but he was too strong, and he was drunk." She cried into her hands not wanting to look at his face.

"Don't make excuses for him Elena he doesn't deserve it. How many times was he like this?"

"Only a few?" She said her voice wavering to let him know that it was probably a little more than a few but it didn't sound like he was abusive all the time. Damon didn't even know how to respond to her. But thankfully he was saved by her phone buzzing. Elena sniffled and picked up her phone to see that the text was from Caroline wondering where she was and that they were out of milk. Elena quickly replied that she would be there soon and that she had milk.

"We should go; I have to get to work." Elena said. "Do you still want to come in with me or would you like me to drop you off at home, otherwise you could stay till lunch and then I could drop you off at home that way you can go around town if you want?"

"Let's just play it by ear." Damon said.

"All right." Elena nodded and then began to finish the drive to work.

When they walked into the bakery they were created by a frantic looking Caroline.

"Caroline what's wrong?" Elena asked with a frown.

"A new client called and wants a cake, a big cake." Caroline said and then looked behind Elena to see Damon standing there. "Damon?" She questioned looking at Elena.

"Care focus, what about the new client?" Elena asked.

"Right well the client called and requested a sweet sixteen cake for her daughter for this big bash that there throwing for her."

"All right?" Elena said confused by the problem.

"They want it in two days."

"Two days?"

"TWO DAYS!" Caroline said freaking out.

"What's the sketch?" Elena asked rubbing her forehead.

"Four tiers, no fondant, pink buttercream icing with silver piping and silver frosting flowers." Caroline panicked.

They both knew that Caroline wasn't going to be much help with this cake, she said herself that piping wasn't one of her strong suits.

"That's crazy! Alright well will you start making the tiers, I'll work on finishing the little girl's cake and by the time I get it done I can start on the cake." Elena said taking control of the situation.

"Well this is it." Elena said looking at Damon. "It's not much but it's a start."

"I like it, it's really cute." Damon said looking around the place. There wasn't much to it, it looked like a simple little bakery, but he could tell that the girls were really working hard with what they had access too.

"Thanks, if you want you can take my car. It's going to be a busy day."

"I'll just hang out for a bit." Damon nodded not wanting to get in her way; he could clearly tell that she was a little panicked about the client's cake Caroline just informed her on.

Elena slipped on her apron and went to finish putting on the final touches to the little girl's cake who wanted the cake to remind her of candy. It took her nearly an hour and a half adding the fondant stripes, poka-dots and the gobstopers Elena picked up at the store. She was pleased that the cake was done and looked really cute.

She went and set the cake in the fridge, looking over to see that Damon was sitting at the girls shared table top watching Caroline as she was making a fondant statue of the Eiffel tower. She looked up at the timer and saw she had maybe 15 minutes before the new clients cake was supposed to drop from the pan and was ready to start being frosted. After washing her hands she walked over to their computed desk and attempted to go through all the papers that needed to be organized. Neither girl really put anytime going through the papers as long as the orders which the girls wrote on bright pink paper, so they wouldn't get lost in the mess, was on top and in order of importance.

"Please tell me this isn't how you guys keep your business organized." Damon asked looking appalled at the mess.

"Well were don't really have the time to go through and keep everything organized. It's all papers we need to keep and our piles are all in certain orders where we know where that are." Caroline said not looking up from her sculpture being too focused to even make sense of her defense.

"Maybe you need a secretary." Damon suggested.

"We can't afford one right now." Elena said looking at the order form for her next cake.

"Well then call it an internship, have them run the desk and on the side teach them a few skill and tricks." Damon said.

"That's not a bad idea." Caroline said finally looking up at Elena.

"Yeah I suppose." She said, "But that means that were going to have to take the time to interview people."

"Well we could do it in a few weeks."

"I suppose. But what if we don't like them."

"That's why we hold interviews."

"What would we ask them?"

"Put your business skills to the test and make a list." Caroline told Elena with a big smile on her face. It wasn't that Elena didn't like the thought of having someone around learning from them and helping them man the phones and calendars but she just didn't know if she was ready to have something else she needed to worry about.

"Just think about it 'Lena." Caroline said.

"I will it may be a good idea." She said not wanting them to think she was against the idea.

Elena stood up an began to ice the cake using the light pink icing she decided on, she was working on icing all four tiers and then stacking them in place but was distracted when she heard Damon ask.

"Do you guys normally work in this awkward silence?"

"NO, but you're here so we can't gossip about you." Caroline pointed out.

"Caroline!" Elena shrieked surprised only to see that Damon was chuckling.

"I bet well maybe I should go get us some lunch that way you can get the skinny." Damon smirked to Caroline.

"That would work." Caroline said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Alright what do you want?" Damon asked grabbing a pen and a piece of paper.

"How about from the Grill? A cheeseburger for me." Caroline said not looking up from the new statue she was starting to make, Big Ben.

"Alright what about you?" Damon asked looking at Elena laughing at the sight of her face which had different spots of pink frosting smeared across her face.

"Same, thanks there's some money in the cup holder that should be enough." Elena said. "Do you know where to go or would you rather I went so you don't get lost."

"Elena this town isn't that big, I'm sure I can find my way around." Damon said faking hurt that she thought so little of him.

"Alright, only if you're sure." She nodded and then went back to putting on the icing.

As soon as Damon left Caroline bounced a little in her seat and said, "So Damon?"

"He was sitting on my doorstop when I came home yesterday." She shrugged.

"Really? What for? Does he know about Stefan?"

"He doesn't know about Stefan, he said he was just visiting the family."

"So what did the kids think about him?"

"They really liked him, Liam is still hesitant about him but you know how he is about strangers. But he wasn't there for maybe 20 minutes and Addison had him on the ground playing with his hair."

"What do you think about him being back? I know you guys got pretty close before he left." Caroline said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Caroline, he's my brother-in-law. I can't think about thing like that. And it wasn't like that and you know it!" Elena fumed.

"Sorry." Caroline pouted.

The girl worked in silence, Elena's mind wandering to what Caroline implied. She and Damon did become really good friends but Stefan hated that she was handing out with Damon and it caused many arguments between them.

"Wow girls, I thought girls were supposed to be able to go on for hours with the chit-chat." Damon said smirking as he came in to the quiet bakery.

He frowned when nobody replied to him.

"Everything ok?" Damon asked slowly setting the food on the counter.

"Fine." Elena nodded taking off her apron and then going to look in the food bag.

"What are you doing Caroline?" Damon asked as he saw her frowning at her cake.

"These figures just aren't working out very well." She said looking frustrated.

"I think they look spot on." Damon said going over and looking at photo she had of the couple and then looking on at her figures.

"Thanks." Caroline said after looking at his face trying to decide if he was being sarcastic with her or not.

"Thanks for getting us lunch." Elena said to Damon as they were eating.

"No problem. It's the least I can do after bunking at your house." Damon smiled.

"Family has to stick together." Caroline said looking at the two trying to decide if Damon being around was really the best thing for Elena right now. She loved her best friend but she was deeply worried that Damon was going to go back to his ways of being a playboy and then forget about the kids, and that was the last thing that the kids needed right now. Caroline could sense it though, there was something different with Damon, maybe it was just that he matured in the last four years, or maybe it was something else. She wasn't sure but she liked the way he could get Elena to smile, a true smile something that only her kids could get her to do.

After lunch Damon ended up going home, to hopefully get some work done. He laid out all of his work things and got done to business knowing his client was going to want to see the drafts 100% done and ready to lie out.

He was so focused in his work he didn't notice when everyone got home.

"Damon!" He heard little Addison squeal breaking his thoughts completely.

"Addison leave him be he's trying to work." Elena scolded as she was left to carry in their bags.

"It's ok." Damon said to both Addison and Elena, "Did you have fun at your uncles?" Damon asked pushing his chair back enough to be able to have her sitting in his lap.

"Anna took us to the Library and I got 3 new books!" Addison said nodding.

"That's awesome maybe we can read one before you go to bed." Damon smiled down at the little girl.

"Yeah!" She cheered.

"Damon I'm going to get cleaned up, or do you want me to wait until your done working?" Elena asked.

"Were fine here." Damon said as Addison was busy showing him the books she picked out. Damon looked over at Liam who was already looking at the pictures in the books he picked out.

"Would you like to read one of your books tonight too?" Damon asked the boy.

Liam looked up at him surprised he would ask but then he got a big toothy grin on his face and nodded. Damon was pleased he was finally breaking through the younger kids walls. Damon knew what it was like to have the walls up and if he knew what he knew now, he would never have gone so long without letting someone in.

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**Thank you for read please review. I am hoping to get to 25 reviews total so i only need 7 more reviews before i post again next Thursday. **

**Dont be afraid to give feedback, all it does is make me motivated to continue with the next chapter. **

**Also I don't know if anyone has noticed but i am slowly making my chapters longer as I go.**

**Thanks**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Wow I am blown away by the response the story is getting. I was just hoping to get to 25 reviews by the last chapter but you guys were so awesome by your reviewing got me to 30! Amazing, thank you all the amazing people who have reviewed, favorited and are following the story. I hope you enjoy this next chapter, sorry for the delay.**

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**Chapter 5**

Two and a half weeks have passed since Damon first came to visit and since then everything has been going so smoothly it didn't seem possible.

"Damon!" Addison squealed into the kitchen and launching herself onto him, as he sat on the couch, kneeing him in the groin. Damon groaned in pain and Elena immediately came and made sure he was ok, after seeing what Addison accidentally did.

"Damon are you ok?" Elena asked concerned.

"I'm fine." He groaned hunched over slightly. Addison sat on his knee not sure what she did but she knew she did something bad. Tears filled her eyes he bottom lip came out as she looked like she was going to break down.

"I'm sorry." Addison said, her lip quivering her eyes full of guilt.

"It's ok Addie, I'm fine." Damon said after a moment quickly reassuring the little girl. "Shh it's ok."

He quickly pulled the girl into his arms and frowned slightly when he felt her wet tears soak in to his shirt. He tightened his grip on her when he felt her arms wrap around his neck and squeezed as if afraid he was going to leave because she hurt him. He caught Elena's eyes and saw they were filled with sadness and awe both at the same time. She gave him a look that said "Are you really ok?" and he nodded.

Damon sat there and held Addison until she calmed down, rubbing her back as he held her. Liam came into the room fully dressed in his soccer uniform, causing both adults to laugh, seeing as he still had 2 hours until his first game.

"Are you already bud?" Damon said with a smile.

"Yup." The little boy smiled. "You're coming to my game right?" He asked hesitantly afraid that Damon was going to reject him.

"Of course, I'll be there right in front." Damon smiled glad with his answer. He really had to do work but seeing the little boys face light up made it worth him pushing off work for a few hours. Elena looked up from where she was sketching her next cake and frowned slightly. She knew that Damon had a lot of work to do and if she found out that Damon let down her baby boy by not showing up she was going to hurt him. Liam needed the male role model and with Damon around the last few weeks she already saw little changes in Liam. He was slowly starting to come out of his shell, and he was actually bonding with Damon with little things like talking to him more, even playing with him, asking Damon about his sketches that he was doing for work and even helping him cook. She was so pleased when she saw them interacting, if Liam couldn't have his dad around at least he had his uncle. Damon had actually ended up surprising her. She knew he liked being around the kids, he was always so patient with them, she couldn't help but wonder if he was actually maturing away from his play boy ways, and wanted to settle down.

"Elena?" Damon asked breaking her out of her thoughts.

"What?" She asked with a slight blush, feeling like she was caught thinking about him.

"I was just wondering if taco's sounded good for lunch." Damon asked raising an eyebrow.

"That sounds perfect." She nodded.

She looked down at her sketch she was working on, because Liam's birthday was coming up soon his theme being dragon's she wanted to make and amazing cake for him. So far she came up with nothing. It didn't have to be a big cake because there wasn't that many people coming to his birthday, just the family, and a little boy, Trevor who he met in soccer. She wanted to keep it a reasonable size but not look cheap either.

"Mommy what are you doing?" Liam asked coming over and climbing on the bar stool trying to look at her sketch.

"I have a cake I'm working on and I'm trying to think of what it should look like." She said getting up and going to refill her coffee cup.

"Are you ready for your big game?" She asked trying to take his attention off her work.

"Yes, did you hear Damon said he was going to come!" The little boy smiled.

" Awesome." She smiled at her son.

They were just finishing with lunch trying to get ready to go the game. Elena was working on helping Addie get dressed while Liam was panicking that they were going to be late.

" Damon could you grab two chairs and put them into my car?" She asked.

"Sure, are they in the garage?"

"Yes, my keys are on the counter." She called as she was putting Addie's hair into two small braids.

"Alright" Damon nodded.

"Thanks." He heard him call.

"Come on where going to be late!" Liam said a frown on his face.

"It's ok Liam that clocks fast." Elena said trying to calm him.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I'm positive. I promise you won't be late. Did you grab water from the fridge?"

"Yes." He said.

"Alright, we're ready. Will you go make sure Damon found the chairs?" She asked and then picked up Addison and carried her on her hip as she grabbed her camera, and phone. She locked the door and then went out to join the boys. Who were both sitting in the car waiting for her. Damon was in the driver's seat and she could see that they both were talking and smiling. Elena put Addie in her car seat and then got into the car, ready to go to the game.

The game only had about ten minutes left, but she could see the Liam was getting really frustrated with himself. He wasn't doing too well and while some of the boys were in the same position there were a few who were better than the rest. But Elena felt bad for him, he was so excited to come and then to see him not do well was heartbreaking.

At his age there was no winning and no losing, everyone was a winner but Liam still came off the field with a frown on his face and all the way home he was silent even when both Damon and Elena tried to tell him how well he did for his first game.

Damon looked in the rearview mirror and frowned when he saw how upset the boy was. Damon decided that he would work on helping him get better. He remembered what it was like as a child trying to do a sport and not getting any help to improve from your father. Damon wasn't his father but who knows what Stefan was doing and decided upon himself to step up and help the kids as his uncle.

Damon looked over at Elena who was trying to cheer the boy up but Damon could see in her eyes that she wasn't sure what to say to make it feel better. Damon reached out and took her hand silently telling her that everything was going to be ok. She smiled sadly but didn't remove her hand from his.

Little did they know that both children were looking at their interlocked hands with a small smile and a little confusion.

Later that afternoon Damon was going to get a drink of water when he looked out into the yard and saw Liam was outside kicking the soccer ball at the fence. Damon smiled went to slip on his shoes.

"You can do this Liam." He heard the little boy say to himself as he kept trying to dribble with the ball towards the fence, but un-gracefully tripped on the ball and fell on his butt.

"Good try." Damon said making his presence known. Liam immediately blushed, obviously embarrassed that Damon saw him fall.

"I fell." Liam said sadly.

"I know." Damon said walking over and helping the boy up. "Let's start with something easy." He suggested motioning for Liam to kick him the ball. "Let's just work on passing back and forth."

Liam nodded and passed the ball over to Damon who had to move a little to get it but effectively stopped the ball. Damon gently passed the boy the ball and then gave him little pointers.

The two worked on different things for hours until Elena called them in for dinner. She was shocked to say the least when she walked in to the kitchen and saw Damon outside help him with his Soccer. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Liam walk inside with a little smile on his face matching the one the Damon was hiding on his face.

"That was really nice of you." She said as Liam went to go wash up.

"Don't make a big deal out of it." He said uncomfortable.

"But it was, to him." She said nodding to Liam who now looked like his spirits were picked up again.

"I know." Damon whispered as he stood beside Elena who was working on serving the dinner from the kitchen.

"Isn't someone's birthday coming up?" Damon asked during dinner.

"Mine." Liam nodded.

"And you're going to be 3 right?" He asked smiling.

"No 6!" Liam protested.

"Oh right, right." Damon nodded.

"Do you know what you want?" Elena asked.

" A bike." Liam said. Elena smiled she knew he has wanted one for a while and that's why she got him a green bike that was currently sitting in Caroline's garage.

"A bike?" Damon asked smiling knowing the boy was going to be excited when he actually got one. Knowing Elena already got him one. Damon was still sitting on ideas what to get the boy but he knew the perfect idea would come to him soon.

"I also want a book bag. Cuz ima be in kindergarten soon." Liam smiled sharing the news.

"Is that so?" Damon smiled. Liam nodded getting all excited that school was starting in a few weeks. He was really glad because he knew that the little boy Trevor was going to be in his class.

For the rest of dinner the four sat there talking about anything and everything.

"Liam why don't you got get a bath." Elena said stacking the plates.

"Leave them. I'll get them." Damon said standing to help.

"Thanks." She said and then followed Liam to help him get his bath set up.

Damon was washing the dished while Addison was sitting on the counter keeping him company.

"Damon?" She whispered.

"Yes princess?" He asked he asked with a smile.

"Are you going to leave us?" She asked.

"Not right now, no." He said.

"But you will?"

"Not if I can help it." He said frowning at her sad face.

"Ok." She said nodding.

"Alright Little Bug it's time for you to go to bed." Elena said coming into the room looking like she didn't hear a word of their little talk, thankfully.

"Mommy." The girl protested looking back at Damon as if he was going to say otherwise.

" I'll see you in the morning." He said kissing her on the forehead and gave her a small hug as he picked her off the counter and set her in the floor.

"Night Damon," The little girl whispered. Damon smiled as she walked away holding hands with Elena. Damon knew it wasn't right to tell Addison that he was going to try to not leave, because he never knew if something could change. For all he knew Elena could want him to leave.

The kitchen was cleaned spotless, no sign of the dinner mess anywhere. Elena come out to the living room to see Damon sitting on the couch with a beer in hand.

"Damon? You ok?" She asked after seeing his thoughtful face.

"Yeah I'm fine." He sighed.

"Not that I don't like you being here, but what brought you here?" She asked her curiosity getting the best of her.

"I was in a car accident a few months ago." He said taking a sip of beer.

"Oh my god, I had no idea." Elena frowned.

"You know when they say your life passes before your eyes, well as cheese as it is, that's what happened. I realized that besides all my hard work with the company I really had nothing. So I wanted to start making some changes so if that moment happened again, that I would like what I saw and would be happy with my lifestyle." Damon said quietly not sure why he was actually sharing his thoughts with her. He didn't want her to look at him differently, he didn't want her to treat him differently after seeing a moment of weakness from him.

"Oh Damon." She whispered bring her hand to his face and gently whipping away a fallen tear with the pad of her thumb.

" I don't want this to change anything. I just thought you should know. I wanted to come here and make things right between my brother and I and to start being involved in your guys life."

"I'm glad you're here." She said smiling. She really was, little did he know his presence was changing all their lives for the better.

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** Thanks for reading the chapter! I hope you enjoyed. I would love some ideas for what you would like to see happen in the next chapters, maybe i will even be inspired to use them.**

**Let me know what you liked about the chapter, what you disliked, don't be afraid to review! :)**

**I would really like to get to 35 reviews by the next time I review. (next Thursday) I am working on the next chapter as we speak.**

**Thanks**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:I am so sorry this is so late but i hope the longer chapter will make up for it :D Please read and review!**

**Special thanks to Stephanie12000 who reviewed and gave me the idea to do a flashback in the story! I hope this was what you were hoping to see :)**

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**Chapter 6**

Elena was walking into the house quietly trying her best to not wake anybody up. She was just getting home from the bakery after staying there working to get ahead on Liam's cake and her newest client's requests for a baby shower treats. It was nearly 11pm the house was quiet she was tired and felt gross. She wanted to shower desperately but wasn't sure if Damon was a heavy sleeper or would wake up with the noise of the shower, so she decided that she could wait till tomorrow morning to do so. She made her way to the kitchen holding the mail in her hand and dropped it onto the table watching in horror as she saw the pink tented envelope slide out of the pile making its self-known. She ignored it for a second and went over to out a cup of water in the microwave to make some tea. She watched the numbers count down trying to keep her mind off that one envelope that sent chills down her spine. She knew what it was haven gotten a previous two but that didn't make her worry any less.

She sat at the table messing with the tea bag and then sighed. Elena slowly opened the letter and pulled out the form that told her that if she didn't pay rent she was going to lose her house and possible the bakery. She felt her eyes feel with tears as she saw that she needed to pay $2,500 in bills for the past two months. It was easy for her to come up with the money when she was able to rely on Stefan to help pervade for them but after he left she found it really hard to be able to pervade for her family and keep the bakery flowing well.

Damon woke when he saw Elena car lights shine through his window. He rolled over on his back and rested a hand on his bare stomach when he heard her movements in the kitchen. He waited for them to die down thinking she was only getting ready to go to bed but was back on alert when he heard her try to muffle her sobs. Damon slowly got up and slowly peeked out his bedroom door. He frowned when he saw her sitting at the table with her head in her hands.

He knew Elena and knew she wasn't one that liked to be bothered when she was upset. The fact that she was crying on the middle of the night told him that it would probably be best if he just waited till the morning and then asked her what was wrong. He felt bad but he slowly moved back into his room.

Damon woke up and wasn't surprised when he saw Elena was already up and moving around at 7is. He knew she wasn't going to work today unless she really had to because she liked to spend the weekends with her family. Even if he didn't see her last night he could tell that she was upset last night because she had puffy red eyes.

"You ok?" He asked as he saw her move into the living room to strip the bed sheets and toss them in and half full basket she had.

"I'm fine." She said trying to manage a smile.

"Do you want help?" He asked getting up to help her.

"No that's ok; I'm just trying to clean before Liam's party.

"Give me a list what to do." Damon said.

"Damon you're a guest you don't need to worry about cleaning." Elena pointed out.

"Elena I've been here for almost a month, I don't think I qualify as a guest anymore." Damon smirked.

"If you're sure?" She said her voice clearly showing how uncomfortable she felt about having Damon help her clean her house.

Elena went into the pantry closet and pulled out a medium sized basket she could use to put all of the things that belonged to the kids and were lying about, needing to be put in their proper place. She quickly picked up the toys only stopping to turn on the TV so she was able to listen to the marathon of America's Top Model. A show she liked to watch on occasion but sometimes just couldn't stand. It took her about an hour before she saw that the house was indeed looking pretty good, she couldn't help but smile when she looked in the kitchen seeing Damon letting the kids help him clean up. Liam was helping rinsing the dishes while Addison due to her persistence to help was putting away her plastic silverware with the biggest proudest smile on her face. Addison was thrilled to be able to help and Damon loved to see the smile on her face.  
"How much time 'till my party?" Liam asked.  
"About 3 hours." Damon replied.  
"Liam, Addison why don't you come and take care of your toys in this basket." Elena said calling the kids and then taking the basket into their room to make it easier for them. She stayed in the room and supervised them, helping and encouraging Addison to put her toys into the toy box they had.  
"Good job guys." Elena smiled. She walked into the kitchen seeing Damon wiping off the counters and then smiled in her direction. He looked out the counter, her guessing he was actually reading his list.  
"Sink is dripping. Really Elena what do you want me to do about that?" Damon asked with a smirk on his face.  
"You asked me to give you a list to do." Elena questioned.  
"I meant to help with tonight." Damon smiled.  
"But its driving me crazy, I have to keep changing the bucket all the time. Plus maybe you need to put your manliness to good use." Elena complained.  
"Checking out my Manliness, Elena? Like what you see?" Damon challenged.  
"Not what I meant." She said a blush forming on her cheeks.  
"I think you did." He said moving in closer to her, his body so close she could his hot breath against her neck. She looked up at him their lips inches away. She could feel herself wanting to lean forward those few inches, and kiss his red lips. She felt her belly tingle at the thought. She was just about to give into her urges when she heard the doorbell ring, and abruptly pulled away from the corner he was pushing her into. Damon sighed, looking away from her smooth lips, what was he thinking. He couldn't kiss her; she was his sister-in-law after all. It wouldn't be right; she was still married to his brother, unhappily and abandoned, but still legally married. He knew those thoughts were not going to hold him back for long, and when he did let go, he just hoped it wouldn't ruin things between them. There was no title to their relationship now, but there was something forming, dare he say they were bonding and forming a close friendship.  
Elena left Damon standing in the kitchen she couldn't help her wandering thoughts go back to that near kiss. What would it mean if they actually kissed? If they weren't interrupted? She brushed away the roaming thoughts, knowing that she couldn't go there. She had other things she needed to worry about, like her children. She knew they were too young to understand but Liam was at that point where he was confused why Damon was here and not his father. She went to the door relieved to see that it was Caroline and Matt holding a box with their company's logo. She smiled knowing that it was Liam's cake that they finished. She opened the door for her and stepped to the side allowing her to bring the cake inside.  
"Where do you want this 'Lena?" Matt asked looking nervous about holding the box. Elena could only imagine Caroline building his nerves up telling how mad she would be if he dropped it or how crushed Liam would be not have a cake.  
"Just in the kitchen would be great. Thanks Matt." Elena smiled knowingly at Caroline.  
"Where is the birthday boy?" Caroline asked looking around.  
"Damon must have gone to keep him occupied to him." Elena said looking around seeing that Damon wasn't standing where she left him.  
"Oh really? He's still here?" Caroline asked with a smirk.  
"Caroline, not now." Elena said irritated.  
"What? I'm just saying he's still here." Caroline said.  
"Goodbye Caroline." Elena said as Matt came back to them "Thanks for your help Matt." Elena smiled at him wanting him to get his crazy girlfriend out of there. She didn't need to be questioned by Caroline right now, not after what almost happened in the kitchen.  
"See you tonight." Matt said.

She went outside to the back yard to see that Damon and Liam were once again practicing playing soccer.  
"Liam. It's time for you to go get cleaned up." Elena said with Addison sitting on her hip.  
"5 more minutes please mommy." Liam called out to her.  
"5 more minutes and then you need to get a shower before your party." Elena smiled and watched as her son was slowly starting to make progress with the help of Damon. She stood on the porch watching the way that Damon encouraged and tried to really help him with his soccer. Damon didn't like to show it, but he was really a good guy with a good heart he just had a rough background. Elena could remember how Giuseppe would treat him.

* * *

_Elena was nervously messing with her dress as she sat in the Salvatore Boarding House, this was the first function that she attended to meet Stefan's Family. She was beyond nervous she heard the rumors of how Giuseppe acted. He was always told to be somewhat of a hard ass and he knew what he wanted and he would see what he needed to get it. _  
_"Don't worry." Stefan said rubbing a hand on her thigh reassuring. _  
_"What if he doesn't like me?" She asked. _  
_"He will, what's there not to like?" Stefan said with a smile. "You're amazing." He said with a kiss to her cheek. _  
_"Father is coming this way." Stefan said, the smile from his face shrinking just a bit. She followed Stefan's lead and stood to meet the elder Salvatore. _  
_"Stefan, nice to see you again, son." Giuseppe said giving him a half hug. "And this must be the lovely Elena Gilbert."_  
_"Yes sir, nice to meet you." Elena said and allowed him to take her hand and give her a kiss on the back of the hand. She couldn't help but blush, not knowing how to respond to that. She could see where Stefan got his looks from. Both looked similar as if she was looking at an elder Stefan. There was something in the air around his father that just rubbed Elena wrong. She wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't used to be around people who had money, and weren't afraid to show it. Elena wasn't raised on money her parents always lived calmly and comfortably. _  
_"You have a lovely home Mr. Salvatore." She said looking around the Mansion. _  
_"Thank you but please call me Giuseppe." He said smiling his pearly white teeth. _  
_To Elena's relief, Giuseppe didn't hang around them long moving around to greet his other guest, talking business with them._  
_"See that wasn't so bad was it?" Stefan asked. _  
_"No I guess not." She smiled at him; feeling like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. _  
_"Want me to go get you drink?" Stefan asked her. She was going to reply when Stefan's attention was caught by an older man who was heading towards them. _  
_"Stefan!" The man greeted a smile on his face. _  
_"Mr. Martin." Stefan smiled. "Nice to see you again."_  
_" And who is this beautiful young lady?" _  
_"Mr. Martin this is my girlfriend Elena Gilbert. Elena this is Mr. Martin my father's business partner."_  
_"Nice to meet you." Elena smiled. "Excuse me, I'm going to go get a drink, I'll leave you to talk. " _  
_Seeing their nod Elena walked away, today was too much for her, she was glad that Stefan actually wanted to bring her but meeting all these people was a little too much. _  
_Elena walked into the kitchen not surprised at how nice it was designed. She walked over to the counter and grabbed herself a glass. She looked around only to see that there was nothing stronger than champagne. _  
_"Ms. Gilbert." She heard a voice and hard steps behind her. She turned to see that it was Giuseppe Salvatore his face no longer holding a smile but a cold glare. _  
_"Mr. Salvatore?" She asked using his full name not sure if he was mad at her and didn't feel comfortable using his first name thinking it would be impolite. _  
_"What are you doing with my son?" He asked. _  
_"Excuse me?' She asked. _  
_"You want money? Are you trying to trap him with a child?" _  
_"What?" She asked shocked. _  
_"He has a bright future he doesn't need to be trapped with a small town gold digging whore." _  
_She gasped at his harsh words not sure what to do. _  
_"How much will it take to get you to leave him alone?' He asked reaching into his pocket and she could see that he was bringing out a check book. _  
_"I'm not leaving him! I love him"_  
_"You guys won't last." Giuseppe said. Elena could feel her eyes start to water filling with tears but she didn't want to cry in front of him. She rushed out of the room and down an empty hall way hoping to find the bathroom only to run into somebodies hard chest. If it wasn't from the hands that grabbed her waist she would have fell to the ground. _  
_"I'm sorry." She blubbered, her tears rolling down her cheeks as her eyes traveled up his body seeing he wasn't dressed for the party. He was wearing dark black jeans, a grey shirt and a black leather jacket. She looked up at his face to see raven black hair but what caught her attention were the grey tinted blue eyes he had. Damon looked down at the girl that ran into him; he gave her body the look down seeing her in a pretty blue dress that worked well with her chocolate brown eyes She was young she looked no older than 17, she was short resting at only 5'2 compared to his 5'11. _

"_Are you ok?" Damon asked._

"_I'm fine." She blubbered un-lady like and was immediately embarrassed about the way she was acting. Elena went to move away but the stranger grabbed ahold of her elbow gentle pulling her back to face him. _

"_You look upset." Damon tried not sure why he exactly was trying to help her. He never one to make sure a women's feelings were ok unless they were going to come back her place for a one night stand._

"_I-I mhm." She nodded looking down at her feet. _

"_Why don't we go get you cleaned up?" Damon suggested leading her back down the hallway._

_He lead her into his bedroom and into the bathroom, he sat her on the toilet and then grabbed her a Kleenex and handed it to her. _

"_Why are you being nice to me?" She asked her chocolate eyes looking up at him with sadness. "You don't even know me." She said._

"_Let's fix that." He smirked. "My names Damon, what's yours?" _

"_Elena." She replied blowing her nose._

"_Alright Elena, what has a beautiful girl like you in tears?" _

"_I'm here to meet my boyfriend's father. At first I thought he liked me and then when Stefan left he called me a g-gold digging w-ho-re." She said stumbling on the hurtful words. Damon tensed as he learned that the girl in front of him was here with Stefan and there to meet their father._

"_Well the guy sounds like a bastard." Damon replied harshly, and gave her another Kleenex. _

"_You can't say that, this is his house!" Elena said sounding appalled._

"_It's my house too, at least for the next hour or so." Damon replied._

"_What?" She asked confused._

"_I'm moving out. I only came to grab a few things and then imp leaving."_

"_Moving out?" She asked._

"_Stefan never mentioned me?" Damon asked sounding slightly hurt that his brother hasn't mentioned him to his girlfriend. He knew his little brother was more like their father but he always thought that there was something between him and that they would at least have each other's back. But that was foolish to think, they haven't had a relationship like that for years._

"_No?" _

"_I'm his brother." _

"_He never mentioned you?" She asked not sure how to handle the news that Damon was Stefan brother and Stefan never felt like mentioning it._

"_Not that surprising."_

"_Why?"_

"_Let's sum up the story by saying that I am just the black sheep of the family. "_

"_That's horrible." Elena frowned._

"_I'm used to it." Damon replied. But the tone in his voice irked Elena, he wasn't saying it self-pity, he seemed like he wasn't even bothered about being out casted. _

"_You're moving out?" She confirmed._

"_Yup."_

"_Does everyone know?"_

"_Yeah my dad was the one to tell me I needed to leave. Which is fine. I'm 21, I'm going back to college in a couple months and I already have a place to stay. I'm just looking for a job." Damon shrugged and sat against the wall. _

_They sat together in the bathroom talking about anything and everything for nearly an hour. Damon had Elena laughing forgetting about her tears and she liked it. For the first time since her parents died she was smiling a real mile caused by her boyfriend's older brother._

"_I better go out there." She said sighing and slowly standing going to make sure she looked presentable. _

"_If you must." Damon smiled sadly. There was something about the girl in front of him that got butterflies going in his stomach._

* * *

"Hey you ok?" Damon asked seeing Elena looking at nothing.

"What? Oh yeah I just got lost in my thoughts." Elena smiled and went back to focusing on decorating for Liam's birthday. He was currently in the bathtub so Elena thought it would be a perfect time to put up his decorations.

She was hanging up streamers from the ceiling; Damon was putting up the plastic scene covers up in the walls. Addison was laughing while she was setting in the pile of blow up swords Damon got for Liam and his little friend from soccer, Trevor.

"How does that look?" Elena asked looking over her shoulder at Damon who was looking up at her as she was taping up the streamers.

"Great." He smiled and when she turned away he couldn't help the man inside of him as he checked her but. He wouldn't deny his feelings he had for her all those years he first met her, but after that and once they started to loose contact, he lost his feelings for her slowly.

"Mommy?" Liam asked coming out of his room with the biggest smile on his face. He looked super happy and Elena gave herself a mental high-five. She did a good job planning this party on little money.

When the family started to arrive Liam was nearly bouncing off the walls.

They were all having a good time, Damon was mingling in with the family and every once in a while he would look over to see who Elena was talking with and when he saw her smiling her couldn't help but smile.

Damon was stepping into the garage going to grab more soda when unnoticed by him Jeremy fallowed him out. When Damon turned around holding the cans in his arms. He was about to say something but when he saw the look on Jeremy's face he knew this wasn't friendly chit chat.

"Yes Jeremy?" Damon asked getting fed up with the silence.

"What are you doing here Damon?" Jeremy asked.

"Getting soda." Damon said in a duh manner.

"I meant living her with Elena. You don't think she has enough to worry about. She doesn't need to worry about you too." Jeremy hissed out.

"Hey she can ask me to leave at any time and I would leave."

"But your letting them get too attached. We all know about your need to leave when things get hard."

"The kids know I'm just here for a visit." Damon said finding the words extremely hard to get out. Right now he didn't want to leave ever. He felt like he was wanted and seeing those kids everyday made him ecstatic. He came to terms a while ago knowing that he was never going to find someone to settle down with, people always would just leave him.

"I'm not talking about just the kids!" Jeremy growled.

"What?" Damon asked confused.

"Elena likes having you here, you meant a lot to her a while ago. She would talk about you all the time and when you just responding to her emails, and texts. It devastated her, she considered you to be one of her best friends."

"Hey is everything ok out here?" Jeremy's aunt Jenna asked poking her head into the garage.

"Yeah, were coming in." Jeremy said grabbing a few of the sodas. "Just think about that next time you decided to leave, because now it's not just Elena who's thrilled to have you around." Jeremy whispered at Damon and then turned and left him standing by her car.

When Damon returned into the house he saw that they were working on gathering everybody for cake. Jeremy's words were rolling around in Damon's head, clouding his emotions. Elena noticed a change in Damon's mood and walked over to him and rested one of her hands on his forearm hoping to get his attention.

"Hey you ok?" She asked looking worriedly into his eyes.

"Yeah I was just worried I missed him blowing out the candles." Damon half way lied.

"Nope you're just on time." Elena smiled and moved back over to the cake and gentle setting the candles in it and getting ready to lite it. She walked into the dining room with a big smile on her face as she started to sing happy birthday to him.

Liam smiled at the hard work his mom put into his cake and when she finished singing he blew out the candles knowing right away what his wish was going to be. He wasn't going to share it with anyone not wanting to take the chance at jinxing it and this was one with he wanted to come true. Liam looked back up to the group and smiled when he saw his mom and Damon standing next to each other with a smile.

The party rolled around pretty late, the last person leaving was Caroline and Matt at around 10pm, long after the children's bed time. Elena went around the table picking up the wrapping paper that was lying on the table from Liam's presents. Liam received, new clothes from Jenna and Elena, Caroline and Matt got him clothes ad things he need for school like a matching Batman backpack and lunch box, Jeremy and Annie got him some new books and new bedding. But she was feeling like Damon's present was the best one that he got, which was a new soccer ball and a small soccer net. Liam was thrilled when he first opened it wanting to go right outside and use it before even opening up his others but had to wait until the morning.

Damon was in the kitchen looking for a drink when he spotted a pink letter sitting by the coffee pot. Frowning in confusion he picked up the letter and flipped it to the front when and saw that it was an eviction warning and if Elena didn't get the money by the end of the month she was going to lose the house. Damon put the envelope away when he heard Elena and the kids moving back into the living room.

"Alright off to bed you two!" Elena smiled.

"Good night Damon." Liam said giving him a quick hug and then went off to his bedroom. Elena was shocked but held back from letting her jaw drop. Never before has Liam ever given Damon a hug. Addison stumbled tiredly over to Damon and put her arms out a clear sign that she wanted a hug.

"Night Daddy," She whispered in his ear, her eyes slowly shutting and not long after she was asleep. Damon was in the middle of being shocked and on cloud nine. Not only did Liam give him a hug and Addison mistakenly called him Daddy. Damon couldn't help but let Jeremy's warning come back to haunt him.

"I'll take her." Elena said not sure what to do. Both her children laid claim on him being a part of their everyday life and now she wasn't sure how to handle everything.

* * *

**AN: Thank you so much for reading, please review and let me know what you liked, loved, or hated about the chapter. **

**I know this chapter is almost two weeks late so i made up for it by doubling the length of the chapter. I hate to admit that i am no longer a head on my chapters and so i am having a really hard time getting the chapters done on time, but have no fear I will work harder in the future as long as i am getting some type of feedback. I would like to get to at least 55 reviews, so if you could get me there that would be amazing.**

**I cant wait to read your lovely reviews, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited it means so much to me. I will start working on the next chapter right away.**

** CONCERN: Does anybody think that the kids and Elena are getting to attatched to Damon too fast? ( I have been trying to take it slow but i feel like its too soon, but Damon has been around them for about a month give or take...)**


	7. Chapter 7

**An:**** Thank you to all who have review and gave me ideas of what you want to see, you may even get to read some of them soon. I know this chapter is extremely short so please don't be mad. I was just afraid that if i didn't post anything this week i would continue to lose readers, and I don't want that. **

**Please, please continue to read and review.**

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**Chapter 7**

Caroline and Elena sat in the bakery waiting for the people they were going to interview for their intern, ideally they would like to have someone who's young and eager to learn. They got six applications to fill the position and only one of them would be able to work for them. Elena didn't want to have to tell the people who didn't get the spot, and she was just hoping that Caroline would take care of it for her.

Both girls decided that they were going to do two groups and do a group interview and have skills test. They were going to do three parts to the interviews, one with questioning, one with design, and one with taste. While they were looking for someone who was eager to teach they also wanted it so the person came with a little background towards cooking and cake design.

While Caroline sat there fussing making sure everything was ok with the interview area, Elena could stop thinking about what she was going to do to pay the bills she wanted to be able to hand this on her own, and asking Damon to pay rent was just awkward and made her uncomfortable to think about. She didn't want to lose the bakery but if it was between her home with her kids or the bakery and homeless, she would do whatever it took to keep the house. Even selling her dream.

"What's with you?" Caroline asked frowning at Elena, seeing her with her own frown on her face.

"I don't know. I'm just thinking." Elena shrugged brushing off her friends concern.

"Elena." Caroline whispered concerned. "What's wrong? Is it Damon?"

"No it's not Damon. He's been great, the kids love him, Addison called him Daddy."

"What did Damon think?"

"He didn't say anything he just smiled sadly."

"Well do you think you should tell her?"

" I don't know. I don't want her to get hurt."

"Don't you think she will get hurt when Damon leaves?"

"I guess, better tell her now than later." Elena sighed.

"Talk to Damon first, you need to know where you guys stand. What is he doing here and how long he's staying." Caroline said.

"Yeah I guess you're right."

"I know." Caroline said chipper.

It was a long and hard day, Elena hated doing the interview and hated that Caroline made her. They were able to narrow it down between two; Claire, a young girl who was almost 20, and a girl Rebecca, who was 16 and looking for something to do after school and on the weekends, and was considering going into pastry. Both girls were nice and although Rebecca was young she was also the one who was most promising in skill and could really take something away from interning for them. She was a cute young blond who looked like she was just looking for someone she could trust and believe in, you could just tell the way that she had herself guarded. They told the two that they would let them know at the end of the week.

While Elena was on her way home she was seriously considering picking up some work someplace else until she got the money. She hated Stefan and wanted nothing more to tell him how pissed she was that he left her and the kids in this mess. Elena wasn't going to worry about it until after Liam's birthday not wanting to be a pooper on her son's 6th.

The day of Liam's birthday party came quickly and he was ecstatic. It's been two days since his birthday party. He woke up early and bounced into the living room going to wake up his mom, he was only slightly confused when he saw Damon lying in the bed with her but his excitement took over his thoughts.

"Mommy!" He said pouncing on the bed effectively waking Elena and startling Damon. "Today's my birthday party!" He cheered a big smile on his face.

"Is it?" She asked teasing her son trying to ignore the hot hand on her stomach. She and Damon stayed up late watching a move and ended up falling asleep together.

"It is! It is!" He shouted.

"Too early." She heard Damon groan behind her his voice muffled by the pillow he was trying to hide in.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Elena asked ignoring Damon and slid off the pullout couch pulling her tee shirt that slid up in her sleep.

"Chocolate Chip Pancakes!"

"What else?" Elena asked picking up her son.

"Bacon, strawberries, whip cream." He said smiling.

"Sounds like a plan." She said. She walked into the kitchen looking for all the needed ingredients, when she turned around she smiled as she saw Addison climbing on the pull out couch and climbed on to Damon's back.

"Wake up Daddy." She giggled. _Daddy _that word seemed to come back and haunt Elena, she still wasn't sure how to address it, because who's so cruel that they would tell a small child that they aren't her father, and her father didn't want her. Elena didn't know what to do, Damon hasn't said anything about it at all and to even confuse her more, it was strange but it almost seemed like he didn't mind her calling him Daddy. Even after talking to Caroline she was lost.

Liam sat table eating his birthday chocolate chip pancakes.

"What are we doing today?" Liam asked excitedly.

"Whatever you want."

"Can Damon and I play soccer?" Liam asked.

"That's up to Damon." Elena said and Liam looked up to Damon excitedly.

"Definitely." Damon said. He had one more present up his sleeve but he wanted to wait until when Elena gave him his birthday presents after breakfast.

"Alright baby do you want to open your presents?"

"Yeah." Liam said excitedly.

"I'll go get them be right back." Elena smiled and walked into her bedroom going into her closet to get out the presents she had hidden. She couldn't wait to see him open his bike she got for him. When she came back to the living room she saw that Damon was nowhere in sight, but she didn't think anything of it.

"Alright Baby, open up." She said setting down the presents in front of him. Liam looked down excitedly but surprising to Elena, he didn't start to unwrap.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I want to wait for Damon." Liam said looking up at his mom.

"ok." She nodded. "I'll go see where he went." Elena said having a feeling that he was in the garage. She walked out to see Damon looking in a box.

"What are you doing?" She asked her eyebrows raised.

"I was just checking on something." Damon smirked.

"What did you do?" She asked not liking that look that was on his face.

"Never you mind. Let's go in so the Birthday boy can open his gifts."

"Damon." She said clearly not amused, but followed his wishes and walked inside and sat on the floor leaning against the couch.

"Can I start now?" Liam asked eagerly.

"Go ahead baby." She said and watched out of the corner of his eye as Damon sat the box carefully down and then moved so she was also sitting against the couch, watching Liam open his big present first.

"Aw cool!" Liam exclaimed seeing his new bike one that had training wheels that could come off.

"Thank you mommy!" Liam cried a big smile on his face and ran over to give Elena a hug and a kiss. He has talked about getting a bike so he could learn for the last few months and finally Elena broke down and brought one when they were on sale. Liam was happy with the other little things he got and was looking excitedly looking at the last box, which was the one from Damon.

Liam crawled over to the box and lifted off the lid and squealed with shock and excitement. Addison not wanting to miss out why he was so excited crawled over to the box and peered inside. Elena turned and gave Damon a nervous look before she saw what the kids were so excited about. Looking in her son's hands she saw a small blue merle Australian shepherd puppy.

"Damon?" Elena asked surprised, who knew Damon was such a softy.

"Well I was walking by the shelter one day and saw him. I thought it would be ok but if it's not, then I will take him back." Damon said sincerely but somehow he knew that it wouldn't come to that.

"Can we keep him?" Liam asked looking up to his mom with pleading eyes.

"Of course." Elena smiled. She would do anything to keep her son smiling like he was now. She just wished that Damon didn't surprise her like he did and just talked to her about it.

"Doggy Daddy!" Addison giggled running her hands threw the dogs fur, and squealed when the dog licked her face. Addison ran into Damon's chest trying desperately to get away from the dogs kisses even though she was smiling.

"He won't hurt you Hun, he's just giving you loving. He likes you." Damon said holding the girl to his chest with a smile.

"I 'ike 'im too." Addie smiled and looked back at the dog again.

Elena sat there flabbergasted, not only did Damon respond to Addison calling him Daddy, he also responded to her daughter and called her hun. Elena knew it was time that her and Damon had a talk, she no longer could let this continue. But she could wait until tomorrow.

"What's his name?" Liam asked playing with the dog.

"His name is Max. He's only about 2 years old."

"Max." Liam called the dog to him, petting him.

"Now guys you need to take care of the dog, he will need food, water, and you'll have to make sure he gets lots of love." Damon told the children.

"I can do that." Liam nodded.

"Thank you Damon." Liam smiled.

While the kids played with him in the living room, Damon looked over at Elena to see what she was thinking when he noticed her looking at him.

"We need to talk." She said quietly not wanting to alert her children.

"Elena I'm sor-" Damon said but was cut off by her.

"No we'll talk tonight." She said and then turned to her children and watched with a smile as her children laughed and played with their new dog.

* * *

**AN: Thank you for reading, you guys are awesome I asked to get to 55 reviews last time and you guys got me all the way to 59, which was 14 reviews total. I am really greatful to all who review, but part of me is bummed that out of 85 people who have alerted only 14 of them could review my last chapter. Thank you to those 14 readers.**

**I would really like to see if you guys could top the record for my most reviewed chapter, which is currently 14 review in one chapter. **

**As always please tell me what you loved, hated, what you would like to see, adn what i need to try to improve on. **

**Thanks to every reader and reviewer.**

**Also if you would like to see what their does looks like i will tempt to post it on my bio. If anyone does go to check it out and it doesn't work please let me know. Thanks. **

**I will post a longer chapter next thursday!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:WOW you guys are amazing! I have reached 80 reviews and all of them have made my day. Thank you to all who are responding to the chapters. Every review means a lot to me.**

**For those who were confused about 2 chapters of Liam's birthday: Chapter 6 was of his family birthday party which was on the weekend... Chapter 7 was his actual birthday (The day he was born 6 years ago.)**

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**Chapter 8**

The children were fast asleep in bed and Damon only could imagine how bad Elena was going to chew him out, for getting them a dog without telling her and talking about it with her first.

"How could you get them a dog without talking to me first?" Elena asked throwing down the kitchen towel and making her way to the living room where Damon was currently lounging.

"I'm sorry I didn't think it would be that big of deal." Damon started.

"Not a big deal?" Elena asked shocked.

"No it's just a dog."

"A dog that's going to cost who knows how much money."

"Is that what it's about?"

"What?" Elena asked confused.

"The money?"

"No why would you ask that?" She questioned biting her lip.

"I saw the eviction warning."

"What? How? Your looking through my things?" She yelled frustrated.

"It was sitting out, why wouldn't you tell me I would be more than happy to help with the rent." Damon said looking at her noticing that she was looking a little tense and embarrassed.

"I didn't want to talk about it. What was I supposed to say?"

"You were supposed to tell me. Were family Elena. I would help you."

"I don't want your help."

"Elena don't be unreasonable. I'm bumming off you, hell I'm sleeping in your fucking bed. I'll start pitching in more." He said getting frustrated that she wouldn't just ask for help. He knew she was stubborn but he didn't think she would risk losing everything, just because she was embarrassed about the money issue.

"I was embarrassed; I didn't want to ask you for help."

"I know, I just wish you just told me sooner."

"You shouldn't have to be the one to help me." Elena said her eyes filling with tears. She was starting to break down. She was dealing with too much in such a short time. "You shouldn't have to be here helping me pay rent, or helping my son with soccer. Their father should be here. Stefan should be here. But he's not." Elena cried. "Why did he leave?"

"Shh Elena." Damon hushed pulling her into his comforting arms. "Stefan's an idiot. I don't know how he could possibly think about leaving you guys, but if you said he was hurting you then it's for the best."

"But the kids need someone to look up to."

"Elena they have you. And I'm here."

"But what about when you leave, then what. They will be crushed and alone once again."

"I'm not leaving Elena. As long as you want me here, I will be here. I was going to talk to you about that. I was thinking about moving closer."

"You want to be here?"

"I'm not getting any younger. I want to be closer to family."

"But your job?"

"I can do the work from here and travel when needed.

"Would that even be worth it?"

"To be here, yes it would." Damon nodded. The past month Damon has become slowly attached, not wanting to leave. These kids had ahold of his heart and they weren't letting go. Damon didn't even think he could leave for good.

"What else is bothering you?" Damon asked looking at her. She was looking down at her lap refusing to look up at him.

"Addison." She said quietly.

"What about her?" Damon asked confused.

" She calls you dad, Damon."

"I know she does."

"We need to start correcting her." Elena said.

"Why?" Damon asked slightly hurt.

"Because Damon there will be a day when you're ready to leave us, to start your own family and when you do Addison can't be calling you dad. She needs to know you're her uncle and her dad isn't around."

"Why can't you just realize that I'm not leaving you guys? Even if I moved here, I would still be around."

"It's not fair for you to have to worry about us when you could be out there finding the love of your life."

"That won't happen."

"You don't know that!"

"I do Elena."

"The only one I want in my life right now, is you!" Damon shouted. Elena stood there shocked. Did Damon just admit he had feelings for her? No it couldn't be she determined shaking her head. They were in-laws. There couldn't be any feelings between them like that. But what did he mean and why did he look like he was mentally cursing himself. Damon couldn't believe what he let slip. He wasn't even aware that he had any feelings towards her and decided he just said that because he wanted to prove that he wasn't going to leave them. Somewhere deep inside he knew that wasn't the reason he really admit some feelings towards her.

"Mommy?" They both turned to see that Liam woke up.

"What's wrong baby?" Elena asked going over to him and kneeling before him.

"Are you guys fighting?" Liam asked looking at his mom and then looking over her shoulder to see Damon sitting on the couch.

"No baby. Were just working some things out."

"Did we wake you up bud?" Damon asked walking over to them. Seeing Liam shake his head he asked. "What was it?"

"I had a nightmare." Liam whispered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Elena asked pulling her son in for a hug.

"No. Can I just get tucked back in?" Liam asked.

"Sure honey."

"I want Damon too." Liam asked.

"Oh all right." Elena nodded looking up at Damon an saw the surprise in his eyes.

Elena watched as Damon carried Liam back to his room, Elena went and pulled out the couch into her bed and went to turn on the TV. She was getting comfortable Max coming and jumping on the couch. As mad as she was at Damon about getting the dog, which she wasn't sure if it was because he didn't ask her first or because of the money she was going to have to spend on the dog? The dog was adorably cute.

"You are cute." Elena whispered to the dog. He looked up at her giving her the face that clearly said "I know I am"

She smiled, thinking about the last time she had a pet was when she was a young girl.

Elena propped herself on the pillows getting all comfortable the crying took a lot out of her and made her. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, with the TV on and lights.

Damon carried Liam to his room and laid him in his bed. Damon was more than surprised when Liam asked Damon to be the one to tuck him back in.

"Alright there you go. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Damon asked pulling up the covers over him.

"It was about Stefan." Liam said.

"What about?" Damon asked putting his hand on his shoulder.

"He came back and hurt Mommy." Liam said.

"That won't happen."

"How do you know?" Liam asked his sad eyes looking up at the man.

"Because I will be here.

"Are you really going to stay here?" Liam asked.

"Of course where else would I want to be." Damon smiled at the young boy.

"Will you just lay with me until I fall asleep?" Liam asked scooting over.

"Of course." Damon nodded. Damon laid down on the twin bed with the boy and smiled when he felt Liam curl up beside him. It wasn't long before Damon felt his eyes getting heavy and then fell asleep.

When Elena woke up she changed the channel to the news and got up to turn off the overhead lights, not remembering when she fell asleep. She knocked on Damon's door hoping he was up so she could get her clothes. When she didn't hear a response she quietly opened the door only to see that he wasn't in bed.

She frowned slightly confused, she opened her dresser grabbing a pair of dark wash jeans and a light pink top. She was gathering he things to go to shower when she passed the children's room, she was surprised to see Damon lying with Liam in his bed fast asleep. Elena quietly walked into the room and smiled when she saw Addison's brown hair, she was laying on Damon's stomach all of them completely asleep all trying to fit on the small twin bed. Elena continued into the bathroom. She turned on the water and striped down throwing her dirties in the hamper.

She was shampooing her hair when she realized that there was other movement in the bathroom. She could hear the sink turn on, and clinking on the bathroom sink. She peeked out of the curtain to see a shirtless Damon his muscled back facing her as he was brushing his teeth.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked shocked.

"Getting ready for the day?" Damon said a ghost of a smirk on his face.

"You couldn't wait till I was out of the shower?" Elena questioned.

"You've been in here forever." Damon said.

"I have not!" Elena said looking in the mirror. He was brushing his teeth but wouldn't deny that he was watching the outline of Elena in the shower. Elena went to reach for her towel only to feel that it was gone. When she poked her head out she saw that Damon was standing there and her towel was lying on the counter.

"Damon could you hand me my towel?" She asked. Damon looked over at the towel and then turned and smirked at her.

"Damon please." She asked not liking the look on his face.

"Why don't you come out and get it."

"Damon!"

"Well since you said please." Damon smirked.

"Thank you." She said grabbing the towel from his hand and then wrapped herself up before standing out of the tub. She smiled when she saw Damon was shaving.

"Not one for facial hair?" She asked.

'It only looks good when you have a 5 o'clock shadow. But once it gets to long it irritated me." Damon said looking at her in the mirror.

"I see." Elena nodded agreeing with him. She sat down on the closed toilet her towel wrapped around her body as she began to brush her hair.

"So I got an email from my boss telling me that I need to go and show the client the drafts."

"How long will you be gone?" Elena asked pausing mid brush.

"I hope no more than a week." Damon replied.  
"Are you coming back?" Elena asked trying to act in-different.  
"That was the plan." Damon said looking over at her seeing she was trying to act like she didn't care but her eyes gave it all away. She was worried that he wasn't going to come back.  
"Well we're going to have to sit down and tell the kids." Elena said.  
"We can during breakfast." Damon nodded.  
"When are you leaving?"  
"Two days."  
"Alright." Elena nodded. Damon finished shaving and the went to the kitchen to start on breakfast.  
"Mommy!" he heard Addison squeal as she ran into the bathroom to where Elena was. He smiled and began to pull out the ingredients and began to chop up the veggies he wanted to put in the omelets. He pulled out the bacon and set it on the counter and began to watch the eggs.  
"Damon you don't have to make us breakfast everyday."Elena said coming into the room with Addison on her hip.  
"I know i love to cook, and we have to eat." Damon smiled.  
"I help." Addison asked and smiled, out reaching her arms and leaning forward wanting Damon to take her.  
You want to help?" Damon smiled.  
"Pleaze." She asked nodding, Damon took her from Elena and then walked her over to the sink.  
"We have to wash your hands first." Damon said smearing a little soap onto her hands and then helped her scrub and wash. He walked over to the counter and sat her on it. "I have the perfect job for you."  
He picked up some of the chopped veggies and showed her how to toss them in. Elena smiled as she watched the two work together, and then walked into Liam's room making sure that he was up and moving. She was already trying to get him used to waking up and getting ready for the day, like he would when he would have to start school. She couldn't believe how fast he was rowing in just a few weeks he was going to start going to Kindergarten and the thought made Elena incredibly sad. She didn't want him to grow up, she wanted him to stay her little baby forever, but she knew better.  
Damon and Elena were growing use to having each other around and like every morning they quickly got into their routine. Sometime it amazed her how well they moved around, there was times when they were all trying to get ready in the only bathroom and yet they moved with ease, never getting in each other's way. She couldn't help but think of how things used to be with Stefan they always seemed like they were in each other's way, half the time Stefan wouldn't help get either of the children ready but instead leaving it all to Elena and making her care for them and herself.  
"Elena could you please let out some plates?" Damon asked seeing that she was near the plate cabinet and pouring them each a cup of coffee. She nodded and reached up and pulled out four plates and carried them over to Damon so he could start to serve breakfast. She glanced at the clock and was happy when she saw they were on schedule it was only 7:10am leaving them enough time to stay on track and have breakfast together.

"So guys, we need to talk." Elena started giving Damon a pointed look.

"Uh yeah." Damon said awkwardly.

"Is something wrong?" Liam asked looking up at the two adults.

"No not at all." Damon said.

"Oh." Liam replied ."What is it then?"

"We'll my boss wants me to come for a meeting, so I'm going to have to take a trip up there for about a week." Damon explained.

"Are you coming back?" Liam asked.

"Of course as soon as I can." Damon nodded.

They saw Damon off as he backed down the road. Elena wasn't sure how the kids were going to take it or if they really understood that he was going to come back. She just hoped that they would be fine. Elena held the kids both in her arms as they watched Damon drive farther and farther away, once they saw him turn the corner they went back inside in silence.

"Guys do you want to take Max on a walk?" Elena asked her children.

"No can we just watch a movie." Liam said sadness clear in his voice. Elena frowned but followed them to the couch.

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**An: I hope you liked the chapter, i know nothing really happened and its more of a filler, but I think it was needed to further the relationship between all the characters.**

**Let me know what you think! I am always wanting to hear what you think of the relationships, events that happened, what you loved, hated, and what you would like to see in the future... I may even use the idea!**

*** I have a challenge to all who cares.. If by the next chapter you can get me to 100 reviews I will post a 5,000 words chapter next Thursday, i'm just putting it out there* ;)**

**But if we dont get there that's ok too. **

**As always I cant wait to hear from you!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I am SOOOO SORRY that this wasn't posted on Thursday, i'm not going to give you guys excuses, i'm just sorry. I hope that you guys love this chapter. I am so thank ful and excited that you wonderful people got me to 100 reviews, you are amazing and i thank every reviewer and reader.**

**Not exactly proud of this chapter, but as prosmised i present you with a 5,000 word chapter :D**

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It was still afternoon when Damon got to his city, the wind was nice and cool, surprising for the end of summer, but he wasn't going to question it. He was ready for the fall to come and ready for the holidays. He sighed as he pulled his suitcase into his apartment. He needed to figure something out with the place. It made no sense to have this place and paying for it if, he was planning on moving closer to Mystic Fall's to be closer to Elena and the kids. His apartment was a simple place, it was picked up and neat but there were no personal decorations around, he worked a lot and then when he came home he made some food and slept. He never was one to just be sitting around the house watching TV; he would rather be out and about doing other things. He sighed not looking forward to going into work tomorrow. He was finished with his project and was currently working on the next one. He tossed his jacket and keys onto the table then flopped down on his bed. He was tired from the long 5 hour drive and wanted nothing more than to take a slight nap. It was only 4pm, and tonight he decided to go to the local bar and meet up with his best friend, and drinking buddy, Alaric. He quickly fell into a light sleep. He woke to hearing his phone vibrating on his bedside table and with a slight groan he picked up and formed a smile when he saw that it was no other than Elena calling him.

"Hello?" He said unable to stop the yawn that escaped his lips.

"I'm sorry did I wake you?" She said apologetically.

"No, No what's up." He asked.

"Well the kids miss you and they are taking it really hard, especially Liam." She said he could hear the sadness in her voice.

"What do you mean?" He asked. He thought they would be ok for a while, but he hasn't even been gone for 7 hours and Liam already missed him.

"He's just not acting like himself. He's quiet and looks really sad."

"What's he doing right now?" He asked.

"He's just outside passing around the soccer ball with Addie."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"Would you, you're not too busy?" Elena asked.

"For you guys never." Damon smiled even though he knew she couldn't see it.

"Thank you. I'll call them in." He could hear her moving around and her calling in the kids. He smiled and sat up making his way to his kitchen going to make a light dinner.

"It's Damon." he heard Elena say.

"Daddy?" Addison squealed in the background.

"Damon?" Liam said into the phone.

"Hey bud!" Damon smiled. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, just outside playing with Addie."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah we're kicking around the soccer ball, but I have to go easy on her because she's so little. So really I'm letting her win."

"That's really nice of you."

"Guess what max did ..." Liam started and continued to talk for the next 15 minutes. Elena smiled going into the kitchen starting on dinner. She was having Jeremy and Anna over for dinner tonight as a thank you dinner for helping her so much with the kids. She was making a really nice Salmon dinner. She was happy that she called Damon and could already see Liam spirits pick up. She didn't mean to let Liam and Addison hog up so much of Damon's time and when she went to take the phone from them she heard Addison talking about the owwie she had. For only being 3 she sure did love to talk.

"Alright Addie, finish your story, it's mommy's turn to talk to Damon." Elena said holding her hand out for the phone.

'Bye Daddy." Addison smiled into the phone and then handed it over to Damon.

'Hello?" Elena said.

"That was quite some fall." Damon said laughing.

"She didn't even cry, I think she just wanted the princess band aid." Elena laughed.

"Everything's better with a band aid." Damon replied.

"Yeah. Sorry for letting them talk your ear off." Elena said.

"No problem. We'll I have to go but will you text me later?" Damon asked.

"Yeah sure." Elena said.

"Bye Elena."

"Bye." They hung up both with smiles on their faces. Elena continued on dinner while the kids play. She was in her cooking zone when she heard her phone ringing from the other room. She picked up her phone and nearly dropped it in surprise at who was calling her. It was Stefan. Deciding it was safer to not answer the phone, if it was important he would leave a message. She was beyond curious about what he wanted; she panicked worried that he was going to come home. She had absolutely no idea how she would handle it if he showed his face. She couldn't worry about things like that right now she needed to focus on dinner and her children who were playing in their rooms. What would they do if Stefan came back? Would they go back to the way they were? Addison would be beyond confused and Liam would go back to being his quiet guarded self, she didn't want that. Watching her children playing, she made her decision; she would do everything in her power to keep Stefan away from them, the first step was to get a divorce.

Sitting in the bar waiting for Alaric to show he couldn't help but think about how badly he wanted to go home. Home? To the kids and Elena? He wasn't sure when he started to call Elena's House his home but he figured it was while he was falling for her. He wasn't sure where the stood, and frankly he was surprised that his slip up, almost telling her he was in love with her didn't come back up. He figured it was just an awkward subject and she didn't see him in that way, so he dropped it.

"What's up?" He heard Alaric say coming over to the bar and sitting on the barstool next to him.

"Hey Alaric." Damon smiled.

"How long are you here for?" Alaric asked

"Hopefully just a week."

"You want to go back?" Alaric asked surprised.

"Yeah I do. I love the kids, and Elena's great too."

"Elena? Your sister in law." Alaric asked. He took one look at Damon's face and could tell that he was falling for her.

"Damon, please tell me you didn't." Alaric shook his head.

"Didn't what?" Damon asked taking a sip of his Bourbon. "You're falling for this girl. I never thought I would see the day the cities playboy bachelor would fall in love.

"I'm not in love." Damon denied.

"Sure you're not."

"Nothing could ever happen she's my sister in law."

"Aha you've obviously thought about it before!"

"Alaric-."

"Damon just admit you having feelings for her, and then this can be dropped."

Damon sighed. He couldn't lie to his best friend, "Fine I have feelings for Elena." Damon said.

"Thank you." Alaric said glad that he admitted it.

They sat at the bar in silence both watching what was going around them, Damon was only on his second glass of Bourbon , he was really trying to cut down, for himself and because he knew how Elena felt about drinking.  
"Don't look now but Andy's heading your way." Alaric said looking toward the dirty blond woman who always had her eyes on Damon. Damon looked over to see that she was wearing a sexy red numbered the screamed, how tight it was. Damon used to hook up with Andy, among other girls, but he always tended to go back to Andy for some reason. He didn't having any feelings for her, she was cute but Damon knew better. Underneath her fake smiles she had an inner motive and that was to use her body to try and get money from him. That's why Damon only would go to her pace, and then usually would leave before she woke up in the morning. One of his rules he had for himself was to never bring a girl back to his place. Because then they would know where he lives, and he didn't want to have to wait until they wanted to leave.  
"Damon, haven't seen you around here for a while." She smiled flirty.  
"Been out of town." Damon replied sipping on his drink.  
"Oh I just thought you were avoiding me. "  
"Never." He said sarcastically but she didn't seem to notice.  
"Maybe we could head back to your place and finished what we started before your accident." She smiled running her finger up and down his shirt seductively.  
"I don't think so." Damon said shaking his head.  
"My place then?" She tried casually trying to stick her chest out more.  
"No Andy, why don't you go throw yourself at some other guy, I'm sure they would take you up on your invitation." He said not looking anywhere but her eyes. He was over that time in his life, after being around Elena and the kids, he decided that he wanted something like that and he wasn't going to do that with a gold digging whore. Alaric smiled knowingly. His friend was changing and hopefully he would find everything that he was working for.

The kids were down for the night. They had a blast playing with Anna and Jeremy. Elena was only slightly surprised when the couple made the announcement. They told her, that Anna was pregnant and that she was the first to know. Jeremy kindly asked her if she would be the godparent to the baby. Elena of course said yes, and was beyond happy that her brother was proudly in love and was settling down expecting his first born child with the love of his life. Elena knew that they were going to make great parents and she was proud of them for really thinking things through and we're going to start getting ready to settle. Sure she was slightly worried that they were too young to be thinking about things like but she knew that if anyone could do it they could. Elena sat down for a moment to herself before she needed to get up and put away the leftovers from dinner. She had to admit it was weird not having Damon around, she really did miss him. She pulled out her phone and listened to the voicemail that was left by Stefan.

"Hey Elena, just wanted to call and talk to you I would really like to get together and talk some things over. I would like to come home. So give me a call when you get a chance." He said and then he hung up. She didn't know what to do she didn't want to talk to him but it may tell him she's going to file for divorce. She was done with Stefan she used to love him when they were younger and when she was scared from being pregnant with Liam at 18. But when Stefan started to be abusive she fell out of love with him, he wasn't who she thought he was, and she would not be his punching bag any longer.

She sat on the couch and really wanted to call Damon, who she was constantly depending on and she hated it, so she talked herself out of it and decided that she was a big girl who could handle it. She had two kids that needed her care and she needed to stay strong for them. She slowly got up to put away the food from dinner and decided that she would leave the rest of the mess for tomorrow morning. She went to lock the door and then pulled out her pillow and didn't even bother to pull out the couch. She laid down and let her thoughts take her, she only came out of her funk when she felt Max crawl on with her and laid on her stomach. She fell asleep to petting him.

It was a normal Saturday afternoon, the kids were playing. Everything was fine they were just hanging out when she heard the lock on the door open. . Knowing it couldn't be Damon she frowned and walked to the door she became wide eyed as she saw the familiar bronze hair she just signed the divorce papers to make it official. She looked at the kids. Liam stopped moving and Addison didn't know what was going on. Elena realized she probably didn't know who Stefan was.

'Hey babe." Stefan said, his voice was calm but she could tell that he was pissed. He probably found out about the divorce paper that she filled out last Wednesday.

"Stefan, what are you doing?' Elena asked.

"What? I can come home to my family?"

"You-ou can b-ut it's been almost 6th months." She said.

"Has someone else been here?" Stefan said gesturing to the male shoes that was lying next to the door.

"Daddy!" Addison cried out seeing Damon's shoes. That one word made everything worse, Stefan was mad at Elena and Addison; Addison for calling someone else daddy and Elena for obviously cheating on him. Stefan's glare sent shivers down her spine and next thing she knew she was laying on the ground with Stefan pounding her. She tried to protect herself but that was only making things worse. She could hear Addison screaming for Stefan to stop and then she heard a door slam. She could only hope that it was the kids getting out of the room. Elena could taste the blood in her mouth. She tried to stay awake for as long as she could, but she slowly lost consciousness

She felt heavy and bruised as she slowly woke up, groaning in pain. Stefan was nowhere in sight, she sat up with a jolt. Where were the kids?

"Liam, Addison!" She called panicked. She ran into their room.

"Mommy?" She heard Addison cry.

"Baby come out its ok." She said gently.

"Mommy!" Both kids cried racing forward and wrapping their arms around her. She gathered them in her arms as they cried trying to calm them.

"Honey I'm home!" Damon called with a smile on his face. He used his key and walked into the house, he wanted to be able to surprise them by coming home three days early. He had a smile until he saw that the living room was trashed, blood drops on the floor.

"Elena! Liam, Addison?" He called his voice filled with panic.

"Daddy." Addison called. Damon ran into the kid's room and saw all three were in the room; Elena had her back to him.

"What happened out there?" He asked his eyes searching the kids for any injuries.

"Damon." Elena said slowly.

"Stefan's back." Elena said.

Damon looked at her bruised and battered face unable to feel the guilt and the rage that was flowing thru him. He was going to kill his brother, he wasn't sure how Stefan thought he could just waltz back into the house after all this time, and how dare he touch Elena.

"Oh god." Damon cursed falling to his knees next to Elena. Her eye was bruise, her cheek swollen, her lip was busted, and there was a cut on the side of her head. He gently ran his hand over her face and blanched when he saw her wince.

"I'm so sorry Elena." Damon said.

"It's not your fault. You weren't here."

"That's the problem I should have been here." Damon said looking down at her.

"Damon you can't blame yourself. I had no idea he would come back." Elena said shaking her head, tears forming in her eyes. Damon wrapped his arms around the group, glad to be back but not happy to see that while he was gone, things went crazy. It was the exact thing he told Liam that he would be able to prevent, and he failed the boy.

"Let's get you cleaned up." Damon said calmly and slowly standing up he helped Elena to her feet, he helped her into the bathroom Max fallowing at his heels. He motioned for her to sit on the toilet and he grabbed his phone he was going to take pictures of the marks Stefan left on her, for evidence and proof of the way he would abuse Elena. He was hoping that Elena was going to take action against Stefan and get an order of protection against him, but right now he was just worried and focused on her.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked looking down at his phone.

"I'm taking pictures for evidence if you ever ended up needing it." He said his voice hard and cold, but she knew that it wasn't directed towards her. She stayed quiet not really sure what to say. She thought it was a good idea, especially if she needed them if she had to fight for child custody or if she had to go to court for the divorce. Taking pictures of her battered face made Damon sick to think about. He wasn't going to worry about Stefan coming back, because now he's here and he wasn't going to let his brother do any more damage. Damon grabbed a washcloth running it under semi warm water. He was pissed but he knew he couldn't show it, not wanting to upset her.

"Tell me if it hurts." Damon said. She nodded and sat still while she felt Damon gently wiping away the blood on her face. She nodded and watched in awe at how gentle he was being. She could see the concern that filled his eyes.  
"You ok?" Damon asked finishing wiping away the last of the blood noticing that she was watching him.  
"Yeah, thanks." She nodded.  
"Let's get in the car; I don't want you to be here when Stefan returns." Damon said to Elena grabbing his phone and his keys.  
"Where are we going?" Elena asked worried about where he was taking her and her kids, but she knew she could let go and trust Damon to take care of them.  
"Don't worry I have it all handled."  
"You do?" She asked  
"Does that surprise you?" Damon asked slightly offended.  
"No." she replied.  
Damon was about to get in the car when Liam spoke up, "what about Max."  
"I'll get him bud." He said and went back to the house to grab the dog. He wasn't sure how he was going to get the hotel to allow that but he knew that it paid to know people.  
Damon returned to the car Max in his arms. Elena reached across to open the door for him.  
"Thanks." he said. He set Max and in her lap and climbed in and started towards the hotel one of his coworkers owned.

"Damon are you sure about this, they're not going to let Max in." Elena said worriedly.  
"Don't worry Elena, I have it covered." Damon said looking at her and frowning at her bruised face.  
"Alright." She said and held onto Max and held Liam's hand while Damon picked up Addison and lead them into the hotel.  
Upon entering the hotel a man immediately came over to them, with a smile on his face.  
"Damon Salvatore," The man smiled. "Imagine my surprise when I'm told you need a room. "  
"Ian, thanks so much for doing this, I know it's really last minute but some things came up." Damon said and the man "Ian's" eyes went right over to Elena causing her to look at the ground ashamed.  
"I'll take you to your room." Ian said with a sad smile. "Do you have any bags?"  
"Nope." Damon said.  
"Alright, follow me." Ian said. He took them up to the second floor and led them down a long hallway.  
"Here you go, I hope this works." Ian said to them, opening the door showing them a nice two bed place, It was the normal size of a hotel room but this place looked nicer and homier than most.  
"Thanks." Damon said.  
"Don't mention it." Ian said leaving them to their room. Elena was surprised that he didn't even say anything about having Max with them even though she saw a sign in the entrance that clearly said no pets allowed.  
" Come on guys, the room won't bite." Damon encouraged them, setting Addison on the bed. He watched at Liam slowly let go of Elena's hand and then walked into the room cautiously. He couldn't imagine what the boy was feeling, him being older he was more aware of what was happening with Stefan. He knew that Stefan was his father but he could clearly see that Liam was scared at Stefan's return. Damon wanted nothing more than to be able to take that look off his face and make him feel safe again.

The kids were watching TV and Damon was laying on the bed they didn't claim slightly. He tilted his head towards the bathroom where he could hear Elena crying. He wanted to go in there and comfort her but he decided to give her a few more minutes before he intervene. He knew Elena and he knew she didn't like to be babied and stepping in right now would most likely make her mad. He stood up and walked into the small kitchen area and got himself a glass of water. He sighed setting his cup next to the sink and then walked into the bathroom.  
"Elena." He said softly getting her attention.  
"I'm sorry, did you need in here?" She asked standing and moving toward the door.  
"No. Are you ok? Stupid question, will you be ok?"  
"Yeah."  
"Come here." He said pulling her into his arms.  
"You don't have to be strong all the time." He said.  
When she didn't say anything he continued pulling her to the bathroom floor and holding her.  
"What happened while I was gone?" Damon asked.  
"I went to a lawyer, I filed for a divorce, he must have been notified." She gasped.  
"Wait you're getting a divorce." With a fierce glare sent his way he wished he didn't ask the question, but he wanted to make sure that he knew all the facts that were going on before he tried to be a permanent fixture in her life, and the kid's life. On the drive home he had a lot of time to think and he decided that he was going to try to win Elena's heart and see where things went from there. He wanted the white picket fence, with the filled home. As messed up as it was he only saw one woman giving him all he wanted and that was her. It wasn't knew feelings either, he fell for her the moment he saw her all those years ago, but stepped aside when he heard she was already taken by none other than his own brother.  
"What do we do now?" She asked him looking up to him for strength and guidance.  
"I will go back to the house and gather some things, and then I'll come back and we'll just stay here until things calm down." Damon said and paused not wanting to upset her further.  
"What?" She asked.  
"I think you need to go farther, you need to go to court get a restraining order and get full custody of the kids." He said gently.  
"You think?" She asked setting her head against his chest.  
"I know." Damon whispered into her hair.  
"Thank you Damon, I don't know why you stay, but thank you." She whispered starting to fall asleep because of the stress.  
"For you Elena, I stay for you." He whispered thinking she wouldn't hear him but she did and she was floored.

Damon sat there for a few minutes and then picked her up and carried into the bed he was sitting in before. He wanted to go to the house while she was sleeping, that way he could be back by the time she woke up.  
"Guys, I'm going to go get some stuff will you behave for mommy?" Damon asked.  
"Yes." Addison said eager to please.  
"Good, if mommy wake up will you tell her I'll be back soon." Damon said mostly to Liam.  
"Mhm." Liam nodded.  
"Bye, bye Daddy." Addison said.  
"Bye sweetie," he smiled kissing her on the forehead. Unsure where he stood with Liam he stood there waiting to see what Liam wanted.  
"Bye." Liam said getting up and throwing himself at Damon like he wasn't going to come back.  
"Maybe tonight we'll rent a movie." Damon said smiling.  
"Ok, pizza too?" Liam asked.  
"Definitely, what's your favorite?" Damon asked.  
"Pepperoni." Liam said.  
"Coming right up." Damon smiled and then looked over the room once before leaving.

He pulled into the driveway, going over his mental list over and over again. He grabbed all the important things. He grabbed a bag out of the kid's closet and threw in handfuls of clothes for each; he didn't want to pack too much knowing that he could always come back if needed. When he got to Elena's clothing he wasn't sure what she would want do he just packed a few jeans, undergarments, and shirts. He packed some things for Max and then walked outside to go; he tossed the bag into his trunk unaware that he was being watched.

Damon drove away not seeing Stefan who was sitting in his car pissed. He couldn't believe that it was his own brother who she was having an affair with. He was the one who Addison called daddy, when it should have been himself who she called father. His anger took over his thoughts and decided that he was going to come back with a plan to get both of them to pay.

When Damon got back to their hotel room he was surprised to see Elena still sleeping even though it was about an hour and a half since he's been gone. He quietly walked into the room leading a hotel worker, who was carrying two of the bags. He went to the store and decide to get the ingredients needed to make their own pizzas he thought that it would be fun to do with the kids. He knew they were working with limited space so he bought pre made dough.  
"Thanks." he whispered to the man and then saw him out. He turned back to the kids who were laying on the bed with Elena. He smiled slightly and then went to get the ingredients ready for the kids to make their own pizzas.  
He woke up Elena for dinner and told her that they were thinking about renting a movie.  
Elena nodded sitting up and rubbed her eyes. She was surprised to see that their clothes were there and extra blankets and other items from their home. She looked at Damon and the kids, she smiled watching Damon with the kids, she could see how happy he was to be around them, and how much he loved them even though they weren't his. She was confused where they were going, it's been nearly a month and a half, but Damon hasn't said anything about leaving. Not that she wanted him to leave; in fact she was slightly scared at how bad she wanted him to stay.

They had a great night, enjoying each other's company but they were all exhausted.

"Come on sweets, time for bed." She said helping Addison dry off. Both the kids were cleaned and ready to bed, when Elena carried Addison out into the room she paused slightly to see that Damon had built a wall of pillows, against her bed gate so that Addison wouldn't fall off the bed. Liam was already lying in the bed, Max lying at his feet. With the kids in one bed, that meant that she and Damon would have to share. It wasn't the first time but it was the first time that they shared on purpose. Damon saw her hesitated and immediately felt guilty, he didn't want to assume but he just thought that since the kids seemed to have already claimed one bed they would just take the other. Now he was feeling like an ass for assuming.  
"Do you want to rearrange?" Damon asked.  
"No, it's ok." She said mostly to herself. She tucked the kids in and then went over to her bag to see what Damon packed only to see that he didn't pack her any pjs. She looked up at him giving him the coldest glares he's ever received.  
"What?" he asked coming over to see what he did wrong.  
"You didn't pack me anything to sleep in." She hissed. His face went blank, at first he wanted to laugh but seeing how mad she was he realized that she thought he did that on purpose.  
"Elena I didn't mean to, I was trying to hurry." Damon apologized. "Do you want me to run to the store and get you something?" He said. She thought he was being sarcastic but was touched when she realized that he was being absolutely one hundred percent serious.  
"No that's ok?" She said rubbing her head.  
"Do you want to wear one of my shirts? They'll be big on you but if you're ok with that then you can wear one." Damon said. '_Gah he's a sweetheart_' she swooned. She knew Damon inside in out after all these years he really hasn't changed. Ever since she met him when she went to meet Stefan's family for the first time, and Damon comforted her, she knew he only pretended to be an ass to keep everyone out. But around her he was the nicest, most thoughtful guy she's ever known.  
"That would be nice, thank you." She smiled. She followed him over to his suitcase and watched as he dug through it only to pull out a black t shirt.  
"Thanks." she said and then went to the bathroom to change. She was ashamed to admit that she smelled his shirt before she went out there. She loved that the shirt smelled like him and made her feel like she was surrounded by strength and protected. She always tried to be strong, and not need to be helped and protected but deep inside all she wanted was to be protected and to find someone who was ready to protect her and her children from all the bad and then evil.

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**Again, sorry for the delay. I promise to get better at updating on time.**

**I would like to get up to 125 reviews do you think you can get me there?**

**Tell me what you loved, and hated about this chapter. **

**(ps. I would really like to see reviews that have at least 3 sentences... but i am greatful for what ever you give me)**


	10. Chapter 10

**An: Thank you to all who have reviewed the last chapter. I was glad a reached the length I promised but I just wish I was able to complete it how I imagined it to be, but there's nothing I can do now. So let's move on. Thank you for all who said they loved it, and all who said they didn't like it. I loved both reviews and I appreciate them. **

**I hope you all enjoy, sorry about not having it out last night I had an English Final today and needed to study for it.**

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Damon woke in silence, it was dark inside the hotel room besides the little night-light they plugged in for the kids. It took him a moment to remember where he was but when he could see the outlines of the hotel furniture, he remembered where he was and what made them have to get a hotel room in the first place. He blinked confused unsure to why he woke but blinked rapidly as he felt someone's small hands shaking him. He rubbed his hands over his tired face and then rolled over to face the small little girl who was trying to get his attention.

"Daddy." He heard Addison whisper her voice tired and slightly fearful.

"What is it Sweetie?" Damon asked. "Do you want to get up here?" He could barely see her nod in the dark but he did, and helped her up into the bed. He smiled slightly as he felt her climb under the covers next to him. He knew they were thinking about telling her not to call him Daddy but after talking about it, Damon finally convinced Elena that it didn't bother him, and at this age it would probably confuse her. It wasn't like they told her to call him that, they always just referred to him as Uncle Damon and one day she just started to call him Daddy. Addison curled into his chest and fell back asleep quickly. Damon followed not long after her.

Feeling a body pressed into hers, Elena opened her eyes to see that both of the children were laying in between her and Damon she didn't even remember them climbing in the bed. She sighed rubbing her eyes, wincing as she touched the tender bruise. Liam was cuddling into her still fast asleep. She was tired, but she knew that she needed to get up and go to the bakery and get started on her day. Orders were starting to pile in, the locals in the city loved coming in and getting sweets, for the back to school parties they threw, and other celebrations. She and Caroline were both behind, and it didn't help that they were each having side issues going on in their life. Elena rolled out of bed, tucking Liam back in. She went over to her bag quietly and gathered her clothes to get a nice shower and to get ready for the day. She just need some time to think without feeling like all eyes were on her. She sighed under the hot water,not knowing what she needed to do about Stefan. remembering Damon's words about her working on getting custody of the kids, she knew he was right but she wasn't sure what needed to be done to make that happen. She was broke out of her thoughts by pounding on the door, she peeked her head out to talk.

"Who is it?" She asked running her fingers through her hair.

"Damon. Can I come in I have to go to the restroom."

"Sure, its unlocked." She said and then went back to getting her shower. She was just rinsing off and was so absorbed she didn't even realize that Damon was trying to talk to her.

"What? Sorry I spaced out." She apologised.

"I was asking if you wanted me to go out and pick up some donuts, or something?" He asked through the shower curtain.

"If you want to." Elena said. "When you get back can we talk?" She asked.

"Of course, I'll be back soon." Damon said nodding even though he knew she couldn't see it.

When she heard the bathroom door shut she reached outside for the towel and then she wrapped it around her body, she caught her reflection in the mirror and couldn't help the scowl that covered her face. She looked like crap, and the last thing she wanted to do was go into work while she looked like she just got mugged. Caroline knew all about Stefan but Elena really didn't want to make her friend worry, which was why she wasn't going to tell her brother right away. If Jeremy knew that Stefan was back around he would probably kill him.

Elena walked out into the room to see that the kids were still sleeping so she took it in her own hands and started to lay out their clothes. She finished feeding and playing with Max when Damon showed back up.

"Thanks for getting the breakfast." Elena said opening the box to see that there was 6 donut, 3 different flavors two f them were chocolate, two vanilla, and two were pecan, her favorite.

"No problem which ones do you think the kids would like?"

"Liam, um probably vanilla, Addison probably chocolate. But she'll need only one."

"What one would you like?" He asked remembering the one time they got together for breakfast many years ago.

"There my favorite." She nodded smiling.

"Good." He said with a smile of his own.

"Want to hand me Addie's?" She asked not wanting to reach around him. He handed her the plate and she began too cut it down into bite size pieces.

"What did you want to talk about?" Damon asked licking his frosting covered finger.

"We'll when do you think we can go back home?"

"I say give it a few more days." Damon suggested.

"Alright," She nodded. "How was your trip?" she asked.

"Good but i missed you guys."

"We missed you too." She said. They were crowded in the kitchen only few inches away from each other.

" I really wish i was here when Stefan was." Damon sighed rubbing her face gently.

"You can't blame yourself Damon. It won't do any good." Elena said looking up into his blue eyes.

"I know, I just...never mind." Damon stopped not wanting to sound like a total wimp.

"Just what?" She asked.

"I just feel like i failed you."

"You didn't it's not like you knew that the moment you left he was going to come."

"I know..." He sighed. They seemed to realize they were so close, both were staring at each others lips. She could see that Damon was leaning forward, slowly lowering his head to kiss her. The moment just felt right, both were secretly waiting for the moment to come. Elena was about to meet his lips when she heard, "Mommy!" screamed out in joy. The couple jumped back in surprise both cursing Addison's timing.

"Hey baby, look what Damon got for breakfast." Elena said recovering from the near kiss. She picked up Addie and showed her the donut that was waiting for. Not wanting to look at Damon she continued to get Addison ready for breakfast, but she could her Damon sigh with defeat. Damon watched on as he watched the two most important women in his life interact. Her loved seeing Elena as a mom, she was great. He could see the love in her eyes as she tended to the children's knees. He couldn't imagine having to go what she did and will go through and staying strong through it all.

"Hows your boo-boo" Addison asked looking at her moms face with sadness. Young or not, she knew that Elena's face was hurting. "Kisses." Addison said gently kissing her mom on the her cheek where it was bruised.

"Much better, Thank you baby." Elena said with a smile. "Why don't you sit and eat with Damon while i wake up your brother."

She sat her down in the chair, and went to their bed to wake up the sleeping Liam. She took a chance and looked over at Damon who was making his way to the table to sit at the table, but he was staring right at her.

Elena gulped and looked away after seeing the lust in Damon's eyes. Seeing in his eyes, made her unsure if she was actually ready to take a chance with Damon. She knew that he was everything she was looking for in a man, and was an amazing father to his niece and nephew, she couldn't imagine how he would be with his own children. It was clear that Damon wanted this, there was no way a man would stay around to care with his in-law family in this situation and put everything in his own life on hold. Damon may have been in an accident that opened his eyes to his life, and that brought him to her, but there was something else going on with him. She wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't happy with his life, or that he missed being around her, but she was glad everyday that he was here that she had his support; need it or not.

After breakfast they continued with their day, it was an awkward transition for everyone and threw them of their system slightly, but they were marching on. Elena was done cleaning up the kitchen and Damon had already made the bed the kids didn't end up sleeping in last night. Both doing their normal activities in the hotel room trying to keep that the same,and found in unusual if they didn't do them.

"Will you take the kids and Max to Jenna's before you start working?" Elena asked. "I need to get to the bakery."

"Are you sure Jenna will be ok with Max being around?" Damon asked.

"yeah I texted her and told her what was going on for the most part." Elena said pulling on Addison's shirt.

"What time do they need to be picked up?" Damon asked as he pulled on a shirt of his own.

"I'll pick them up after I'm done working. Won't be done until 7pm ish. Do you think you can drive me by the house so i can get my car?" She asked.

"Yeah we can do that after the kids are at Jenna's." Damon nodded as he helped Liam with the button down shirt he was wearing.

"Thanks." She said.

Damon and Elena were on the way to the house, they dropped the kids off at Jenna's, who saw Elena's face . Elena promised that after work she would explain. The car was silent, they were both going over their thoughts.

"So.. My lease is going to be up soon..do you think i should renew it?" Damon asked quietly hoping that she would sa no.

"Well that depends, do you think you need to?" Elena said awkwardly.

"I'm hoping not." He said stopping at the red light and then looked over at her.

"What about your job?" She asked.

"I'm thinking about transferring."

"Oh?"

"Yeah I want to be closer."

"I want you to be closer to." She said quietly.

"You do?" Damon asked relieved that he wasn't rejected.

"Yes." She nodded.

"So cancel my lease then?"

"I think so." Elena nodded with a smile. They pulled to the curb in front of the house. They were both looking at each other wanting to kiss, but were still confused at what to do.

"We can take it slow." Damon said seeing the hesitation in her eyes. She nodded with a grateful smile.

Damon leaned forward, this time he was going to kiss her, nothing was going to stop him. Lips pressed together, Elena and Damon cheered with glee in their heads. Elena's hands were resting on his shoulders, moving their way into his hair. He held her sides, relishing in the feel of her touching him. Remembering what he said he pulled back and apologised.

"Sorry too fast?" He asked.

"No." She nodded biting her lip. She leaned in forward to kiss him again when a jolt and the sound of two cars hitting broke them out of their moment.

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AN:Thanks for reading, i would really like to get to 160 reviews before I update again. But if we don't get there then that's ok to.

I'm so excited I only have 2 school days left of my high school career because I am graduating early, and I cant wait to be done with highschool! Woot Woot! I may or may not be able to update again before Thursday...

Thanks for reading, and as always please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**An: Thank you to all the wonderful reviewers. I know I'm a few days late and I'm sorry I was actually busy this week because of the holidays and my first few days adjusting to my early graduation and having time on my hands to do thngs..It was slightly unusual...**

**I hope you can forgive me. Please read and enjoy. Let me know how you feel about the chapter :D **

**Also I realize I haven't disclaimed that I don't own Vampire Diaries.. Although I would love to get Damon for Christmas... **

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"Are you ok?" Damon asked the car moving forward from the impact, the impact so strong that the airbags in front came out. Elena groaned the airbag hitting her in the shoulder.  
"I'm fine. What was that?" She asked looking around; she could see a black shadow moving to her side of the car. Before she had any time to react the window shattered glass sprinkling down on her. Whoever was doing this was trying to cause damage. Elena couldn't help the scream that escaped her lips. Damon went to cover her protecting her from the glass showers around them.  
"You stupid whore, lying Bitch!" the man yelled swinging again and shattering the windshield and then stopped. Damon looked up to see none other than Stefan. Elena was shaking in his arms, but sat up to see him glaring at them angrily, sludge hammer in hand.  
"Call the police." Damon hissed getting out of the car not even bothering to look at the damage that was done.  
"What the hell are you doing?" Damon yelled.  
"Sleeping with my wife?" Stefan growled. "How could you!"  
"I'm not sleeping with her! Damon yelled. "Why do you care you left."  
"She's still my wife! You can't use my vacation as an excuse."  
"vacation - Bull shit."  
"It's true I was working."  
"You may have been working but that wasn't why you left so don't pretend it was."  
"You don't know anything." Stefan growled.  
"I know a lot, Stefan. How you hit her, and hit Liam. You weren't ready to be a father so you left with the first slut you could find."  
"You're one to talk." Stefan laughed bitterly. "You're a playboy, you're the king of playboys."  
"You don't know anything about him. He's changed." Elena got out of the car defending Damon who looked like he wasn't going to defend himself.  
"Only for now," Stefan said with a sneer directed at Elena. "Speaking of changes you sure have, turned into a loose slut."  
"Don't speak to her like that!" Damon yelled standing in front of her. Police sirens were getting closer and closer, Damon stood there in silence watching Stefan as he scowled at him.

They were sitting at the police department filling at papers to press charges against Stefan for wrecking Damon's car, and a domestic abuse form. Elena was sitting in a chair next to Damon while he was talking to the police officer about what was happening. She couldn't help but feel like this was all her fault. She was the reason why Damon's car, the one he's had since she first met him, and now it was practically ruined. Elena was holding back her tears not wanting to cry in front of everyone. She really wished that Damon wasn't involved in all of this, and that she was so selfish that she was dragging him into it. That kiss in the car was proof of that. She was holding him back. He was such a good guy, and just needed to go out and find someone new that he could get a fresh start with. Damon looked over at Elena who was staying silent only talking when the cop spoke to her. Damon knew her well enough and could see it in her eyes that she was blaming herself for everything that was going on. He wanted to reassure her right there but he knew she would be mad if he let her breakdown in front of everyone.  
"Mrs. Salvatore," The police officer started "I think you need to have your injuries looked at by a doctor. It would be best for court if you had legal documentations about the injuries." Elena couldn't help but stay silent.  
"I'll take her after this." Damon said to the officer and also to reassure her that he was here for her. He put his arms around her shoulder pulling her into a comforting hug. She leaned into him taking in his warmth. She sighed and nodded.  
"Why don't you leave and we'll call you if we have any questions." The officer said. "Would you like me to call a taxi for you?"  
"Yes please, Thank you." Damon said speaking for them. . "We're just going to head outside. Thank you for all your help."  
"Just doing my job." The man replied.  
"Come on 'Lena." Damon said helping her up. They walked outside and were standing against the wall waiting for the taxi. Damon was standing there watching Elena as she watched the things around her. Damon grabbed her elbow and gently pulled her closer to him, and pulled her into his arms for a comforting hug.  
"It will be ok. It will just take some time." Damon comforted.  
"I know I- I -just want things to change." She said letting her tears finally fall.  
"Shh it's ok just let it all out." Damon said rubbing up and down her back.  
"You shouldn't have to be involved. It's all my fault." She cried.  
"Yes it is." They heard a voice snarl behind rom behind them. They turned and saw that it was Stefan on his way out of the police station. Damon tightened his grip on Elena and pulled her closer. "This isn't over." He threatened walking away as he saw one of the police officers coming out to make sure he left to property.  
"Don't listen him, none of this is your fault." Damon hissed in her ear making sure she understood that none of this that was going on was her fault and she shouldn't be thinking things like that. He pulled her into the Taxi, and gave the address quickly to the driver and then turned to her to see how she was holding up He could clearly see that she was putting on her strong face again and was beginning use the mask she had on a regular basis so that no one could see how troubled she was. Damon didn't like this side of her; he knew her and didn't want her to start hiding her feelings from him. He tucked some of her brown hair behind her ear and then kissed her on the temple.  
The car ride to the house was silent neither of them wanting to carry an in depth conversation in front of their driver. When they pulled into the house Elena was the first one out of the car and left Damon outside to pay the bill. She walked by Damon's car that was still sitting wrecked in the street as a reminder to her what just went on. She was the first in the house and immediately walked into the bathroom, her nerves getting the best of her as she emptied her contents of her stomach. She felt Damon come up behind her and pulled her hair up and out of the way, gently rubbing her back. She collapsed to her knees sobbing; Damon went to his knees beside her and took her into his arms. He knew that Elena was losing her will to stay strong; it was going to be up to him to make sure she had someone she could count on.  
Before he knew it, Elena was fast asleep in his arms too afraid to move and wake her he made himself comfortable and continued to hold her. He ran his fingers threw her hair as she snuggled into his chest. Damon sat there time lost, and continued to relax with her, he was only broke out of his concentration from the vibration of his phone, laying in his pocket. Not even bothering to look at the phone he answered.  
"Hello?" He whispered.  
"Damon where's Elena? I've been calling her phone for hours and she hasn't been answering, she was supposed to be coming into work but-"  
"Calm down Blondie, Elena's with me. She's having a rough day." Damon said cutting off her rambling.  
"What? What happened?" Caroline asked.  
"Stefan." Damon said.  
"What! Is she ok? Does she need me to come over?"  
"No, she's asleep and fine I'm here with her." Damon said the last thing he wanted to happen was for Caroline to come over with and ask Elena questions and get her upset again. "Just keep working."  
"We're really behind here." Caroline whined.  
"All the more reason to get off the phone and keep working." Damon said.  
"Alright, have Elena call me when she gets up." Caroline requested.  
"Ok." Damon said and hung up the phone. He most definitely was not going to have Elena call her.  
The pair sat there for hours until Elena finally started to stir. She opened her eyes only to see a black shirt and to be resting against a hard chest. She looked up at the person to see it was Damon, who was looking down at her with his hypnotizing eyes. She looked around not remembering what happened and how she got there.  
"What time is it?" She asked rubbing her eyes.  
'It's about 2." Damon replied looking down at her with slight concern.  
"I need to get up, and go to work." Elena said sitting up.  
"I think it would be best if you just took the day off." Damon suggested.  
"No, I can't just be sitting around."  
"Elena nobody will judge you if you do."  
"No Damon. I'm going to work." She said with a little bite to her tone.  
"Alright." Damon said backing off, knowing he wouldn't win and he also didn't want to fight with her.  
"Will you just drop me off and then you can take the car." Elena asked.  
"Yeah sure," Damon nodded. He was worried about her he didn't want her to keep herself distracted while she was going through the next few steps of the divorce processes he knew it would have probably been best if she would confront her feelings like they needed.  
The walked out to the car and in silence Damon drove her to the bakery.  
"Thanks for dropping me off." Elena finally said. She was grateful that he was here for her but at the moment she couldn't even her mind around the recent events.  
"What time do you want me to pick you up?" Damon asked calling her back.  
"I'll have Caroline drop me off." Elena said.  
"Alright otherwise call and I'll come and pick you up." Damon assured.  
"Ok thanks." She said shutting her door and then walked in the door only to be bombarded by Caroline who was buzzing with questions and demanding answers. Elena sighed not wanting to go into great detail about what was going on she wasn't really sure herself.  
"Not right now Care." Elena sighed.  
"Elena... " she whined.  
"No, we need to work." Elena said looking at the mess around her. She felt like they were so far behind she wasn't sure for she was going to be able to handle it all. There were about 6 cakes that she needed to get done by the end of the week and had nothing started for any of them. Caroline was trying to finish the order of 150 cupcakes they were supposed to do for an event that was being held in town. Claire their intern was working on helping her with that project while managing the hard task of keeping them organized. Elena was frustrated to see that she wasn't even doing that part of her job. The place was a sty and she was embarrassed that anybody had to see it. There was frosting of every color laying in spots on the table, flour and other ingredients on the floors and walls. She knew that while her and Caroline were supposed to be working together to keep this place up and clean but she wanted to know what Claire was doing if she wasn't helping out. Elena walked into the back room and immediately found her answer; sitting against the shelves was Claire texting away on her phone. Elena was beyond anger and couldn't help but take her pent up frustration out on the girl.  
"What's this?" Elena asked.  
"Sorry I was just on break." Clair said immediately standing and sliding her phone away.  
"What since you started?" Elena snapped.  
"Elena?" Caroline asked wondering why Elena was being kind of bitchy.  
"You're no longer needed. I'm sorry this didn't work out." Elena said ignoring her business partner. Claire didn't say anything but huffed her way out of the shop.  
"What was that about?" Caroline asked Elena.  
"I'll call Rebecca tomorrow. She wanted this more and she could come in and give it a try." Elena said.  
"I'm not mad about that, she was a little annoying but what are we going to do now. We're getting farther and farther behind the orders are coming in too fast and were getting behind with just the two of us." Caroline said panic coming threw in her voice. "  
Don't worry about it well get caught up and then well take some time to think about things." Elena said tying her apron on around her waist.

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**Well that's the end of the chapter, as always let me know what you think, what you hated, love and want to see what happened. I know some of the things goind as far as the divorce and Elena trying to run her buisness is not always realistic, but that's because I'm just trying to write the story how it is in my head. **

**Thnak you all. I would real love to get to 200 reviews, i am still amazed at how many reviews i'm getting. This is my longest and most reviewed fanfiction. Please dont hesitate to read my other stories and telll me what you think.**

**Love you all!**

**Merry Christmas **


	12. Chapter 12

**An: You guys are amazing, I could have never imagine getting this much response to one of my stories, but I'm sad to say that i have writers block and am at a loss where to go from here... Please read and Review...**

Damon woke at 4am something feeling wrong He wasn't a light sleeper but he never heard Elena come home last night and that worried him. He pushed the covers away and got up. Being back at the house he felt more comfortable and happy that the kids were relaxed. He stepped outside the bedroom only to see that Elena was nowhere in sight and the couch didn't even look touched. He picked up his phone and frowned to see no new messages and no missed calls. He tried to ring Elena only to have it go to voice mail. His heart beat In his chest pounding with worry. He called Caroline not caring that it was only 4ish.

"What the hell is your problem?" Caroline growled into the phone her voice cold with sleep.

"Have you seen Elena?" Damon asked not in the mood to deal with her anger.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked now wide awake. Damon could hear Matt in the back ground asking questions but she was ignoring him.

"She said she would have you bring her home." Damon said puling on his shoes.

"She told me she was going to have you come and get her. She must still be at the bakery." Caroline said.

"Why would she lie?" Damon wondered out loud.

"Were really behind and she's stressed. I'll go get her."

"No…will you just come and watch the kids."

"Yeah I'll be there in five." She said hanging up.

Damon was driving down the empty road and was letting his thoughts running his mind wild. Was she trying to avoid him? What if Stefan got his hand on her Even with the restraining order in place, he wouldn't put it behind Stefan to go against it. Damon cursed the officers, who wouldn't detain Stefan because his father hired a top notch lawyer come in and scare the police officers into letting him go. Giuseppe Salvatore was still a feared man, one everyone knew not to mess with. Damon was beyond pissed for his father pushing away Stefan's behavior and getting him out of the mess when he knew that if the roles were reversed Giuseppe would let Damon rot in a cell and not waste a cent.

When Damon got to the bakery he wasn't surprised to see that the lights were still on, which made him happy that Elena stayed there and he didn't have to worry about tracking her down or anything like that. Damon went to the door only to see that it was locked, he took his keys out

of his pocket and find the one Elena gave him for the bakery, walking inside he was surprised that he could still hear movement.

"Elena?" He called.

"Damon?" she asked jumping in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked confused.

"I could ask you the same thing?" Damon said. Elena blushed and looked down at the cake she was working on.

"I'm sorry." Elena apologized.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Damon asked looking around the shop and how messy it was.

"I didn't think about it. I was just worried about these orders." Elena said.

"How many do you have left?" he asked.

"3, the biggest order is the last one." Elena said watching him as he took off his coat revealing his grey tee-shirt that matched the black and grey plaid sleep pants he was wearing.

"Why don't we start with that one?" Damon asked. The last few months being around Elena he learned that the best way to help her when she was in moment like these were to give her some support nod actual help, not tell her to wait until the morning at a reasonable hour to start. He could clearly see how tired she was but he knew she was to stubborn to stop for sleep until she felt comfortable about the situation.

"We?" She asked watching him as she went to wash his hands

"Yeah we." Damon nodded.

"You don't-"

"I know." He said with a smile.

"Who's with the kids?"

"Caroline."

"I'm sor-"

"Don't worry about it Elena. I understand why you did it. I just wished you asked for help."

"Now why don't you tell me what you need me to do." Damon said.

"oh, ok. Well the next order is a cake for Mrs. Lockwood's Gathering to try to save the Art Department at the high school so I was thinking…" She trailed on with her idea, showing him the sketch.

It was coming on 6am when Damon noticed, that Elena was stumbling. She was beyond tired, and he could tell but he knew that she was too stubborn to quit.

"Elena I think it's time to go home, Caroline could come in and help." Damon said moving towards her and just in time before Elena fell to the ground her body. "Elena!"

Her eyes were hooded, she was pale and there were circles under her eyes. He knew that she hasn't been sleeping well because she was worried about the bakery and about Stefan now being around again. He swooped her up and carried her out to the car and took her home.

"Mommy?" Liam called seeing Damon caring her to the bed room.

"She's ok bud. She's just tired." Damon said.

"Liam, why don't you grab the blanket from the couch, that way she'll stay extra warm." Caroline said directing his attention elsewhere. She was sitting on the couch when Liam woke up at 5am looking for his mom and she had to tell him that she wasn't here. Liam was worried.

Liam grabbed the blanket and then rusher into the bedroom where he saw Damon tucking her in and pulling off her shoes.

"Here" Liam said handing the blanket to Damon.

Damon put her to bed and helped Liam on the bed telling him to keep her nice and warm. Damon ushered Caroline out of the room and sending her on her way with a huff.

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**AN: I'm really sorry that this chapter was so short, but i am stuck and quickly losing motivation to continue this. But i promise you guys that i will finish this story, but it may be a struggle. My problem is that I lack patience and have so many different story ideas in my head and I'm working on my own story on the side. **

**I will try to have the next update up by FRIDAY. I hope everyone had a great holiday. **

**Please don't be afraid to tell me what you think about this chapter...**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: So this is the next chapter. I'm not overly excited about it, but I'm not disappointed in it. I would just like to thank all you amazing reviewers and my longest reviewer, Suzanne London. All the reviews you gave me were just motivation. I hope you enjoy the chapter and that the story will continue to progress.**

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Elena woke up to the sun shining in her eyes, groaning tiredly, she sat up and nearly jumped when she saw Damon leaning against the headboard next to her, reading a book.

"Where are the kids?" She asked no hearing them, or any noise coming from the rest of the house.

"Jenna took them, so you could get some rest." Damon said dog earing his page and then setting his book to the side. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine, how long did I sleep for?" She asked looking around for a clock.

"It's 2pm." Damon said shortly. She could tell he was slightly upset with her but she wasn't sure why. "Are you hungry?"

"No just thirsty" Elena said climbing off the bed, and went to go get her a drink, she could hear that Damon was following behind her.

"I think we should talk about what's been happening the last few days." Damon suggested.

"About what?"

"The accident, what we were doing before the accident?

"Damon…" She said. She knew exactly what he was talking about but she wasn't sure she was ready to have this conversation. "The kiss was just a onetime thing." Elena said shaking her head.

"Bull Shit. Elena you know something happened, so don't pretend it didn't" Damon said bluntly. He wasn't going to let her write the kiss off as nothing especially when he had these type of feelings that he couldn't explain but he wasn't going to hide. He knew she felt something from that kiss by the emotion he saw in her eyes when he just brought it up.

"It did happen… but I don't know if it should happen again."

"Why not?" Damon demanded.

"Because, you're my brother-in-law." She said.

"Not for long you said that the divorce papers are being processed and you were done with Stefan." He said sitting on the couch next to her.

"I am." She said quickly "I just don't want Stefan to have things to use against me in the custody case."

"I understand, Elena. I really do but I want to pursue the thing we have going between us. I've had feelings for you since we met, not just saying that. I was really bummed when things were working out for you and Stefan, but now that he's out of your life I want in. I want to be there for you, for the kids."

"Why? Why would you want to be in my life with my baggage when you could go find a new girl, and start a family with her."

"Because Elena, I love you." Damon said looking away waiting for her to reject him. "There I said it."

"What?" Elena gasped.

"I know this isn't the proper time to say it, but Elena these last few months have been great, I love being here with this kids and I love being with you. Before you reject me I would like to take you out on a date, a proper one, this Friday."

"I'm not going to reject you." Elena whispered.

"Alright, so I'll pick you up at 5?" Damon smirked.

"Alright at five." She nodded smiling.

Elena was working on folding the clothes while Damon was working. She wanted to give him some quiet time to let him get things done before the kids came home, and she wanted to think about what he admitted to her. He loved her, she wasn't sure how she should feel about it, she loved Damon but she wasn't sure if she was _in_ love with him. He was great with her kids but would he grown tired of her and the kids, would he leave her like Stefan did. She knew it wasn't fair to compare him but she was had so many insecurities from him she wasn't sure if she could get over them and move on.

Elena walked into the her living room, pausing when she heard Damon's phone ringing.

"Damon your phone's ringing." Elena said holding it in her hand.

"Thanks." He said and then walked into the other room and answered it . Curiosity getting the best of her she listened in while she took care of the bathroom towels.

"No, I'm not in town." She heard Damon say.

"I'm visiting with family."

"I don't know."

"Because I'm needed here." Damon hissed into the phone.

"Stop calling me Andie." Damon said and then hung up.

Elena moved into the other room. "Everything ok?" She asked.

"Yeah fine." Damon nodded with a fake smile.

He was sick of Andie calling him, since he's been back she already called him at least twice a week, she really was starting to get annoying, making him wonder what he ever saw in her. She was needed and clingy; only want him for his successful business, and his rising wealth. Damon smiled and watched as Elena started to pick up all the toys.

"Elena why don't you just sit down and relax." Damon suggested from where he was working at the table.

"I will I just need to finish this, and then I'm going to start organizing things for the bakery." Elena said tossing the kids toys into the toy box.

Friday came quickly, Elena was surprised to admit that she was really looking forward to the date she had with Damon. She had a really crappy day, the bakery was getting busier and she was unorganized and that irritated her. She wanted to spend the weekend to get the bakery back so it was up and organized. Damon was getting a shower, Elena was trying to decide what she was going to wear, she tightened her grip on the towel she was wearing and then knocked on the bathroom door.

"Come in." she heard Damon call.

"Damon where are we going?" She asked peeking her head inside. Damon looked out at her and chuckled when he saw her standing there, he eyes closed.

"It's a surprise, but dress slightly fancy, but not too fancy." He said.

"What type of slightly fancy?"

"Nice pair of jeans, and a nice shirt would work."

"All right." She nodded, not really happy with that answer. It was way too hot to be wearing jeans but if she went in shorts then it wouldn't look that nice. She went into her closet and looked through her supper dresses. A blue one caught her eyes, and she pulled it out happy to see that it was one of her favorite one she had. It was a deep blue that showed off her figure but had an appropriate neck line, and fell mid-thigh. She laid it on her bed and pulled on her black panties, not needing a bra because it was built in.

She was had on her dress but she wasn't able to zip up the dress, luckily or coincidently Damon came in wearing a pair of dark jeans and the towel resting over his shoulders,

"Wow you look great." Damon smiled looking over her outfit.

"Thanks." She said and looked down at her black pumps. "Could you zip me up?" She asked turning her back to him and lifted her hair.

"Yup." He nodded and then walked over her; she could feel his hands on her bare back sending chills up and down her spine.

"There you go." He whispered his hot breath on her neck, making butterflies form in her stomach.

"Thanks." She whispered turning to face him; she looked up into his eyes and loved seeing all the lust running through them.

"I'll be ready in about ten." She said.

"No rush." Damon smiled they turned toward the bedroom door as they heard a knock on the door, most likely Jeremy and Anna ready to pick up the kids, since they were going over to spend the night. "I'll go get the door." Damon smiled.

Elena turned back to the mirror and put on some light makeup, and was ready to go.

"Thanks for taking them." Damon said to Jeremy and Anna."

"No problem, have fun on your date." Annie smiled excited for Elena to be going on date for the first time in many months.

"Thanks we will." Damon said with a smile. Elena walked out into the living room giving the kids a kiss and hug good bye.

"What time do you want us to pick them up?" Elena asked, giving Addie a hug.

"Don't worry about it, we'll bring them home after lunch." Jeremy said with a smile. He was happy to see his sister happy, but he still wasn't a big fan of Damon. Jeremy wouldn't believe that the playboy would change and that he would make the commitment with Elena let alone give up his life style for her and the kids. It would just be time before Damon went back to his own city leaving them behind.

"Wow this place looks really nice." Elena said looking around the new restaurant and regretted her outfit choice. The place looked like a five star restaurant, and everyone was dressed to the nines.

"Don't, you look perfect." Damon said seeing her frown.

"You didn't tell me this place was so fancy." She said giving him a slight glare.

"It's not that bog of deal." Damon said grabbing her hand and then pulled her into a small and secluded dining area.

"Damon what are you doing? We have to wait for them to seat up." Elena said looking around with worry etched on her face.

"Don't worry about it Elena." Damon said as a waiter came over.

"Good evening Mr. Salvatore, may a please get you a glass of bourbon?" The waiter said with a smile.

"Yes thank you, and she would have a glass of lemonade." Damon said ordering for Elena, remembering how she doesn't like alcoholic drinks.

"Right away sir," The waiter said.

"Damon?" She asked confused.

"I uh bought the place and since it's done being remodeled I thought we could try it out." Damon said with an awkward and uncomfortable smile.

"You own the place…" She said looking around.

"yeah I bought it before I even came here." Damon said.

"That's great." Elena smiled. "It looks amazing."

"Thank you." Damon nodded and then looked at her. She looked beautiful tonight, she was dressed up simply with little make up and she looked amazing she didn't even have to try that hard.

"How many other places do you own?" Elena asked.

"Only a few maybe 4 or so."

"That's really good, Damon." Elena smiled impressed. "How do you decide what to buy?"

"I don't know. I usually just pick one that I could fix up real cheap, and then just do things to continue to build up a cliental. I was actually thinking about starting a new remodeling company and remodel buildings, business or even homes, but don't know I'm still in the process. Ideally I would like to bring my friend Ric into the business, but I don't know if he's willing…. I'm sorry you don't want to talk about work…" Damon apologized.

"No it's great you're so passionate about something." Elena smiled.

"Thanks, I was thinking about moving to Mystic Falls…" Damon said carefully looking up at Elena's face to see what she thought.

"Really, I think that's great." Elena smiled.

"I've already started working on looking around. I did find a nice little apartment…or I did find a house that was nice.." Little did she know that the house he looked into had enough space for her and the kids. He really hoped that she didn't pick up on anything not wanting to scare her away. He knew they were in the beginning of a relationship…at least he hoped they were. But with Stefan still roaming around and trying to cause trouble he didn't want to push her too far or to quick.

"I think you should go for whichever one you like better." Elena said not catching onto anything.

"I was thinking about the house only because I could do a little remodeling and it's in a great location."

"It sounds wonderful Damon." Elena smiled.

They spent all of dinner going on with the small talk, they were having a really lovely time, and Damon was glad to see a smile on her face. It was something he wanted to work on, he loved when she smiled it seemed to brighten up the whole room. He loved how she was so amazingly pretty but she would never think about herself like that. He was actually ecstatic that she was oblivious to the flirting that their waiter was trying to do. They polished off desert and were getting ready to leave, but once they stepped outside they were immediately bombarded with flashes. The press. Elena froze in shock as the paparazzi were surrounding them and demanding questions. Damon was surprised that there were so many of them but he had a strong feeling he knew who put them up to it, Giuseppe. It seemed like something he would do, try to fluster someone who was up against a Giuseppe and Damon knew that with Stefan and Elena's court case in just a few weeks, he was going to try to get Elena to back down from dragging the Salvatore name through the mud.

"Elena is it true that you were cheating on Stefan Salvatore!"

"Where are the kids?"

"Damon what is your role in her life?" Were the only things that Damon could make out but he ignored them and guided Elena towards her car. He opened the passenger side, helping her inside, doing his best to shield her from the flashes. He was slightly surprised that the paparazzi were still hanging around his father, but he knew that they loved to catch the dirt on wealthy people.

Elena sat in the passenger seat holding a hand up to hide her face, she felt like crying. They were having such a wonderful night, and then something like this happens to ruin it.

"Are you ok?" Damon asked as he started the car and put it in drive.

"Yeah fine." Elena nodded wanting nothing more than to get out of there.

The house was quiet, Max was sleeping on the couch.

"Are you ok?" Damon asked frustrated.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just don't understand why they came after us."

"I'm guessing my father had something to do with it."

"I don't know why he doesn't like me. He never has." She said walking into the kitchen behind Damon and washed her hands.

"Because he's and ass, Elena don't let him get to you, that's just what he wants.." He said while pouring a glass of bourbon.

"I know. Your right." She said taking the glass from him for a sip after he finished pouring.

"Careful Elena. I know you don't want to drink." He said watching shocked as she downed it.

"Yes, yes I do."

"Elena you aren't thinking-"

"Damon shh.. Just refill my cup." Elena demanded her eyes challenging him to deny her.

"Ok." Damon nodded slowly and poured her more.

Four glasses later, Elena was nearly smashed, Damon not far after her. He wasn't going to let her be the only one drinking. Part of him felt like he probably should have not filled her cup, but he knew this was what she need. To allow herself to feel free and let loose. Damon sat on her bed and slowly played with the zipper to her dress, wanting not him more than to get her out of it.

"Damon." She giggled running a finger up his chest.

"What?" He asked a small smile on his face, eyes filled with lust and love. They were sitting on his bed, Damon leaning against the bed frame, while she sat on his lap straddling his waist. They were both drunk but not drunk enough to not know what they were doing.

"You're pretty." She said drunkenly and slowly began unbutton his shirt, slowly revealing his muscular chest. She began to kiss up and down slowly running her tongue across his skin, and that was all it took for them both to lose control and get carried away into the heat of things.

**An: Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please read and review, dont be afraid to give me your honest thoughts. I know the chapters short but i would really like to reach 240 reviews. **

**See you next Thursday for the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**An: Ok guys I know its short but real life is really keeping me busy. Thank you for the amazing reviews. I hope this chapter is ok...**

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Elena woke up in the morning her head pounding and felt the slightly headache she had from the night before. She shivered slightly and cuddled herself closer to the man lying next to her. She laid there wondering to herself if she regretted sleeping with Damon, a part of her did only because she felt like they should have taken that next step when they were both completely sober. She found herself drawing small circles on his bare chest and found it interesting to watch him sleep. He looked so peaceful, he was sleeping with a slight smile on his face, and making her wonder if she put it on his face.

"If you keeping doing that were going to have a repeat of last night," he whispered as he felt her finger on the spot over his chest and lower going over his stomach, around his belly button. She smiled and let out a little chuckle.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" She smirked and kissed his jaw.

"A promise." He said kissing her on the lips, He flipped them so he was covering over her gently, and was kissing her neck, when the phone his phone rang.

"Ignore it." Damon said as he lost half of Elena's attention.

"But it could be important." She said. "It could be work or something about the kids."

"Fine." Damon said and picked up the phone not moving from his spot. The caller id said Ric, making Damon growl. "This better be important."

"I'm in town." Ric said with a chuckle not knowing what he just interrupted.

"Good for you." Damon said sarcastically rolling back to his side.

"Who is it?" Elena whispered.

"Ric." Damon told her, "He's in town.

"Damon, I was calling to see if you wanted to go out to breakfast. I think we need to talk." Ric said wanting to see his best friend and hopefully soon business partner.

"Ric, I'm kind of busy." Damon said looking down at Elena, who was listening into their conversation.

"Invite him over for brunch." Elena insisted.

"No." Damon said quietly. Ric who heard her smiled. He assumed that Damon was with Elena because the last time they talked Damon only had eyes for her.

"Damon." She glared and gently pulled the phone from him. "Hello, Ric? This is Elena." She said in the phone moving so he could reach her or the phone.

"Hi Elena I've heard a lot about you." Ric said causing Elena to rise her eye brow.

"Would you like to come to brunch, maybe around 9:30? Does that work?" She asked.

"Elena don't invite him over." Damon whispered not wanting to give up his alone time with Elena.

"I would love to." Ric smiled ignoring his friend's comment.

"Alright do you have a pen? I can give you our address." She said then told him slowly.

"Thanks I'll see you soon." Ric nodded.

Elena stood up and handed Damon his phone, noticing that he was giving her a pretend glare.

"Why did you do that?" He asked.

"Because he's your friend and he's in town."

"But…"

"Damon stop. Get around and then come and help me get ready for him to come over." Elena said with a stern face.

"Fine." Damon pouted.

"I'm going to get a shower." Damon said.

"I'll be in the kitchen." She said pulling on his boxers and his shirt from last night. She walked out of the room leaving Damon to lay back in the bed with a smile. He was super happy, he felt like he was on cloud nine. But he wanted to know how she really felt about everything that happened.

Elena went out to see what needed to be picked up before there company came over and saw the house. She went to the fridge glad that she went to the grocery store the day before, so she decided to pull out eggs, bacon, and waffle and pancake mix, along with a fruit salad and make some toast. She wanted to make everything look nice and neat because for some reason it was really important to her that Ric approved of her. She had roughly an hour and a half until Ric would be over so she started by cleaning the living room. Vacuuming and dusting really quick. She pulled out an yellow post it note and made of list of things she wanted Damon to go pick up at the store once he got out of the shower.

Nearly finished with the quick pick up she began to start making the pancake and waffle batter, Damon came out to the kitchen where he smiled at Elena still in his clothes from the night before.

"You look very sexy in my clothes." He whispered in her ear wrapping his hands around her waist.

"Damon…" She groaned. "Will you run to the store for me?"

"Of course." He said kissing her neck.

"I made a small list." She said grabbing the sticky, note moving away from him.

"Alright I'll be back soon, he said looking over the list.

"Thank you." She said. "Please try to be quick." She begged not wanting to be left alone to greet his friend. It's not that she was worried to meet him she just wanted it to be a comfortable environment.

Once Damon left she went and made his bed, and then walked into her closet she shared with him, and pulled out a simple red sundress, and then she went and got cleaned up. She was just dressing when she noticed that the clock read that she only had about 25 minutes before Ric was supposed to be here, and Damon was nowhere in sight. She went out to the dining room and set the table in the nice China she had, and pulled out a few vases she could put the flowers in. She was working on making the pancakes and waffles when Damon finally came back home.

"Wow you know you don't have to impress him." Damon smirked as he saw all the trouble she was going through.

"I want him to like me." She said , turning to look at him.

"He will, Lena. You look amazing." Damon said pulling her in for a hug and kiss.

"Thank you. Could you please put those flowers in the vases, and put one in the living room and in the kitchen."

"Of course." Damon laughed. She was just finishing the finally touches when there was a knock on the door. Elena wasn't sure why this was such a big deal to her. She figured it was because she knew how important Ric was to Damon and she wanted Damon's best friend approve of her.

"Hey Ric." Damon said opening the door motioning him to come in.

"Damon, how are you?"

"Great. I'm glad you finally get to meet Elena." Damon said quietly.

"I am too. You talk about her enough, I was kind of wondering if you made her up." Ric teased.

"No." Damon scowled. "Elena this is Ric, Ric this is Elena."

"Nice to meet you." Elena smiled.

"Yeah, I've heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you." Ric smirked at his friend's discomfort.

"All good I hope." Elena smiled and touched Damon's hand, easing his discomfort.

"Of course." Damon smiled.

"Would you like something to drink?" Dmaon asked Ric.

"What do you have?"

"Coffee, milk, orange juice, water…" Elena said.

"Coffee please." Ric said.

"How do you like it?"

"Just black, thank you Elena." Ric said with a smile. He could already see the love between them when they looked at each other, he just hoped everything worked out for the two of them. For the first time in a really long time he could see Damon was happy.

"So what are you doing here?" Damon asked.

"I was actually here to talk to you." Ric said.

"About?" Damon questioned.

"Well you talked about starting your own company, and offered to let me join. I was hoping that spot was still open."

"Really?" Damon questioned. "You have to ask. I would be happy to have you join. We could definitely get started on it."

"We can talk about things later, I don't want to ruin Elena's breakfast." Ric nodded and looked around the house.

"We're ready to eat it you want to come take a seat." Elena called setting a plate of pancakes and waffles on the table.

There were just sitting down at the table when Elena's phone rang from the other room.

"Excuse me I should go get that, It could be about the kids." Elena excused herself.

"No problem." Ric shrugged, he watched his friend, watch Elena walk out of the room.

"You're happy here." Ric smiled.

"I am." Damon nodded.

"Are you going to move here?" Ric asked.

"I am."

Elena answered her phone to hear Anna talking to someone.

"Hello?" Elena said.

"Oh hey Elena? Is it ok if we bring the kids home. My mom called and she could really use my help and Jeremy said he would go with me." Anna said sounding a little panicked.

"Yeah of course Is everything ok with her?" Elena asked.

"She broke her leg a few days ago and was mentioning that she could really use some help. But otherwise she's fine." Annie said.

Elena walked back into the dinning room , "The kids are coming home in a bit. I hope you like children." She said looking at Ric.

"I love them." Ric smiled.

"What happened?" Damon asked feeling slightly worried about the reason why they needed to come home early.

"Annie and Jeremy need to go help her mom out, she broke her leg."

"That's horrible." Damon said.

"Anyway where we were?" Elena smiled.

They had a nice brunch even when the kids came home, they were just hanging out, Ric was really liking the effect that Elena had on Damon. He was settling, and was happy about it. Anything that made his friend smile this much made him a big supporter, he was just worried about how they would last during the court trails against Stefan.

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**An: Well there it is. I hope you liked it, don't be afraid to let me know what you think...**

**Also I have an idea: If you guys could give me until Feb. 1st I will write a longer chapter if you don't want that and would rather just get one next week instead of waiting till then i will do that. **

**I will go by how many reviews i get with your vote and go by that count so make sure IN your real review you let me know what you want. I would prefer to not just get one word reviews with your vote, I want a review with at least 3 sentences. Reviews are great but i want more with more content...**

**You guys are awesome I am hoping to wrap this story up quickly...**

**Review and Vote!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I AM SOOOOOO Sorry, I really didn't mean not to publish anything, I just have lost a lot of my interest in this story - writing in general, so i apologise. This is NOT the last of the story but I wanted to give you guys a little something and I have decided that I am going to take a break and focus on writing this out until it is finished. So hopefully the next chapter will be long and the last one. **

**Please review.**

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(Five Weeks Later)

"Damon I don't know if I can do this." Elena panicked looking at both of their reflections in the mirror.

"Elena you can do this. I'll be right there with you." He reassured her, turning her to face him. "Just remember this is the last step, all you have to do is answer the questions and then this whole thing will be over."

"I know." She nodded. Today was the last day that she would be have to deal with Stefan and his drama and then she and Damon could finally start to explore their relationship. She was thrilled and was slightly nervous at the same time, Damon was now an important person in her life and she wasn't completely sure if he knew what he was getting himself into. But she was going to take one day at a time. They were getting to be pretty busy, Addison just started to go to a preschool/daycare, while Liam was going to be starting kindergarten soon. Damon was working on getting his new business up and running, Elena was trying to improve the bakery; it was sort of going down, but not enough that it was too late to fix anything.

"Just think about how much better things will be. Once this is over you can ben be done with everything related to Stefan and can move on." Damon tried to cheer her up.

"I know it's just a lot to process right now." She nodded and wrapped her hands around his waist. She loved the feel of his warmth making her feel safe and she just felt this connection to him. She tilted her head up and kissed him gently on the neck before pulling away to keep getting ready for today.

"Are you sure this looks ok?" She asked gesturing to the nice pink dress she owned; she just wanted to look perfect and presentable.

"Gorgeous." He smiled pulling her in for one last kiss before moving into the living room to see that the kids were still eating. He smiled at the sight of Liam's un-brushed tussled hair, looking like he just roller out of bed, which really he did.

"Good morning little ones," Damon smiled.

"Daddy I not little, I three." Addison said looking as stern as a three year old could .

"Oh I'm sorry cutie." Damon chuckled and ran his fingers threw her thin hair. He loved these kids so much, almost like they were his own.

"Damon, can we play soccer a little later?" Liam asked looking up at Damon with excited eyes.

"Of course, bud." Damon smiled.

"Alright grab your bags, let's get to the car!" Elena said coming into the room pulling on her heels while trying to gather the things she needed to leave.

Together they walked hand in hand to the big intimidation building taking it in stride. This was the end of her life with Stefan but the beginning of her new life with Damon. She was ready for the change and Damon was ready to take the next step with her. They haven't slept together since that night, nor have they been out on a date, but they were slowly becoming more affectionate with each other and secretly Damon was planning a big surprised for when this was all over. Little did he know he wasn't the only one with a surprise. Damon squeezed her hand and gave her a slight kiss causing the small child in his hands to let out a giggle.

"Daddy, kiss her again!" Addison squealed in delight.

"I think I just might." Damon smirked kissing her again gently remembering that there were still kids around. He looked down at Liam who looked like he was trying to look disgusted but really had a small smiled on his face as he held his moms hand.

"I think I might be sick." A cold voice interrupted the moment, causing everyone to change their attitude. Damon squeezed her hand and pulled Addison, who went still and quiet, closer to his body. Liam stopped smiling knowing who the man before him was.

"Move along Stefan, I want to get this over with." Giuseppe said looking at the family like they were the filth beneath his freshly polished shoes. The two men left with their noses held high in the air, while Damon looked over at Elena who looked ghostly white.

"You can do this." Damon whispered fiercely in her ear. "Don't let them win."

"I know, I know." Elena nodded.

**AN: I am sorry for the crappy chapter, but i will make this a priority until it gets done. Thank you for reading and staying with this story for so long. I may not post for a while but my goal is to have this finished in the next couple weeks. **

**Please read and review. I WANT to know how YOU want this story to end.**

**XO**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Ok guys here is the last chapter, I know it's kind of crappy but I want to complete this. Thank you guys so much for following this story, reviewing and keeping me motivated. You guys are amazing!**

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"Is it true you and Stefan were married up until a few weeks ago?" Stefan's lawyer asked as she sat in the hot seat in the conference room. Due to Giuseppe persuasion he was able to get it so they were able to have a privet hearing with the judge. Elena was kind of happy that the whole thing was staying out of public eyes; she didn't need the whole city witnessing her trial to protect her family. She didn't care if the press spread rumors after it, but she didn't want them to add the pressure she was already feeling, by having them listen in waiting for her to spill the juicy truth.

"Yes." Elena said carefully not liking the obvious question.

"Is it true that Damon Salvatore has been staying with you for about 5 months?"

"Yes."

"My client is confident in saying that you cheated on him with his brother, Damon Salvatore."

"No I would never- Stefan was the one cheating on me."

"That's not what was asked."

"But it's the truth."

"So you have never cheated on him?"

"No."

"This picture says otherwise." The lawyer said bringing up a picture, of the night Damon and Elena were together over a month ago.

"Your honor that is an invasion of privacy, my client was in the privacy in her own home." Her lawyer, defended.

"Agreed, I would like to know how your client got this picture." Judge Rowland asked looking at Stefan's Lawyer, Luke Foster.

"It surfaced up in our investigation."

" The picture is declared invalid." Rowland said.

"Perhaps it is Mr. Jameson's turn to prove his point, if that is all you have." Rowland said as he looked at Foster, who was surprised that he wasn't going to allow the picture to be used. That seemed to be his only information.

"Thank you sir." Jameson, Elena's Lawyer said turning to Stefan.

"My client, is pleading for custody over her two children, and a restraining order against Stefan Salvatore."

" What is the reasoning?" Rowland asked.

" My client Ms. Gilbert, formally known as Elena Salvatore has been married to the Plaintiff for nearly five years, and by the time of their second child Stefan was distant and abusive. He never loved either of the children like a father would, he was abusive towards my client, and has on occasion hit his son."

"Where's your proof." Foster demanded.

"I'm glad you asked." Jameson smiled. "These pictures taken by Damon Salvatore, were taken when he came home from a business trip to see that Stefan was abusive his wife, at the time."

Elena couldn't look at the pictures, she couldn't look anywhere, worried that she would catch Stefan's eye. She just wished that Damon was there, they didn't allow him to come into the room and he was currently sitting in a waiting room with the children. She needed him, he was supposed to support her and now she was beginning to lose her confidence.

"All my client wants is to be able to leave the past behind her, and wants to be able to give a supportive life style to her children." Jameson said looking at Rowland.

With one nod, Rowland turned to Stefan and looked at his lawyer.

"What does your client want out of this meeting?" Rowland asked Foster.

"My client is entitled to the house; his name is the only one on the house deed. My client would like shared custody of their children." Foster said.

Rowland shook his head, and put his hand up signaling for both lawyers to stop.

"I have heard enough and have come to a decision. Mr. Salvatore, I do not allow domestic abuse; therefore I am giving Elena full custody of the children, along with a restraining order. To see your children you will spend one year in prison for domestic violence, and a sentenced to 700 hours of community service. Furthermore you need to go to therapy twice a month for two years. If you want nothing to do with the children that is your choice, and will not be permitted until to see them until your sentence is complete, but we will revisit you after your year in prison. However since his name is on the house deed, he will have the house. Meaning that Ms. Gilbert must be packed and moved out in 4 months, has full custody of the children and will keep the bakery, and will receive child support every month for until each child is 18 years old." He said.

After writing the document and getting both signatures they were able to leave. Elena couldn't help but let the happy tears flow down her face as she walked out of the room. Damon seeing this, immediately thought wrong and felt his heart fall into his stomach. He pulled her away from the door, and started to apologize and comfort her.

"It will be ok Elena, we will figure it out." Damon whispered in her ear.

"Damon," She shook her head. "We won."

"What?" Damon said making sure he heard right.

"We won, we won the case." Elena smiled.

"Congratulations Ms. Gilbert. I hope you're relieved." Jameson smiled, proud to make one of his clients happy.

"I am," She smiled wiping the tears away. "I can't thank you enough."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get you the house." Jameson said.

"I don't need the house, I'm just happy with my kids." Elena smiled from Damon's arms. "I can't thank you enough!"

Elena hugged Damon, she was so relieved all of this weight and stress was taken off her shoulders, and now she was ready to begin her life with Damon. There was nothing stopping them from being happy. Damon looked over her shoulder, looking at Jameson and whispered thank you, giving him a small nod in gratitude.

"Mommy why are you crying?" Addison said worried about her mom.

"Oh baby girl, they're just happy tears." Elena smiled, crouching to her knees so she could take her children into her arms. She was hugging them when she caught sight of Giuseppe heading their way. Immediately she tensed and held her children close, she was just happy that both Damon and Jameson were still there with her.

"I hope your happy," Giuseppe sneered at Elena.

"Leave her alone Mr. Salvatore the case is done," Jameson defended her before Damon could even open his mouth.

"I hope your happy that your children won't grow up with a father."

"They will have one," Damon said.

"Who? You, the face of bachelorhood," Giuseppe chuckled.

"Damon's a better man than you ever could be." Elena said standing up with Addison in her arms.

"You may regret thinking that later on when he leaves you." Giuseppe said before walking away. Elena looked over at Damon to see that he was fuming, she knew it wasn't true. In all these months of getting to know Damon better and including him in her life, she knew that he wasn't going anywhere. Elena slid her hand into his, "Don't listen to him."

"I know," Damon nodded knowing better than to let his father get him riled up. They said there thanks and goodbyes to Jameson before walking outside, with the biggest smiles on their face. Damon took them out to lunch to celebrate, he couldn't wait till this weekend, it was a four day weekend and Damon knew exactly what he wanted to do. Thursday after school Damon was going to take his family somewhere nice where they could spend time together.

Thursday while Elena was at the bakery and the children were at school, Damon was packing up his new repaired car with their bags. He was feeling pretty proud of himself he planned this trip all by himself, even Elena didn't know about it. Damon was all packed and was setting Max in the back seat, along with his pillow bed.

Damon picked the kids up from school and was going by the Bakery to pick up Elena, after having already talked with Caroline and told her his plans, she was ready for him and was working on getting Elena ready to take some days off.

The three walked into the bakery, Addison making them known by squealing in joy when she saw Elena.

"Damon what are you doing here?" She asked with a smile, and kissed him on the cheek.

"We're here to pick you up?"

"Why?" Elena questioned with a slight smile.

"We're going to go for a car ride." Damon said leaving no room for her to resist.

"I can't just leave, I have to finish up here." Elena said looking down at the cupcakes.

"Already taken care of," Caroline smiled at her best friend.

"But… I need to-"

"Seriously Elena, Go I have everything covered." Caroline smiled.

"Are you sure?" Elena questioned looking at her friend knowing that they had a lot of work that needed to be done.

"Yeah, Rebecca and I will be able to get it done. You just go and have a great time with your family.

"Thanks Caroline, we'll see you when we get back." Damon said ushering Elena out of the bakery.

It was a long 4 hour car drive having to stop three times for the kids to go to the bathroom, but around 7 they finally found themselves standing in front of a nice little beach house, that looked so homey and peaceful.

"What is this?" Elena asked looking at the car with Addison in her arms. While Liam was waiting by Damon holding Max's leash.

"This is a little vacation home you can rent and so I thought it would be fun if we spent our weekend here," Damon smiled, as he watched small waves in the ocean.

"That's so sweet," Elena smiled at his, setting Addison down letting her run wild towards the sand.

"Don't go in the water yet baby," Elena called after her before moving over to Damon and throwing her arms around him giving him a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, Elena." Damon smiled.

_**Epilogue – 8 years later**_

"BOYS! Wait till your father gets home," Elena said swatting her second oldest boy Drew's hands away from the chocolate cake she made for dinner. She was working on finishing dinner hoping she would be able to surprise Damon who was just getting home from a long three week trip and getting a major company to support Damon and Ric's Company.

"Daddy's home!" Addison yelled at the top of her lungs getting all of her siblings' attention. Footsteps were thundering down the stairs all wanting to be the first to greet their dad. Damon and Elena planned on stopping at 6 kids, but little baby Nora was a surprise, and she was going to be their last. They first found out that Elena was pregnant a few weeks after the custody battle was over, and then Drew was born, after Drew, Elena had twins; Kole and Alex, who were now 5. Ryan the youngest son just turned 3 and now Nora is 6 months old.

She heard the front door open, and Damon shuffling his feet trying to get the snow off his shoes. "Hey guys," He chuckled.

"Have you boys been good?" Damon asked, the twins, who were known for getting in trouble.

"Yes," The giggles coming from them made him think otherwise.

"Where's your momma?" Damon asked looking around not seeing Elena or Nora.

"She's in the kitchen finishing dinner," Liam said.

"Thanks bud," Damon said giving him a hug. Damon made his way into the kitchen to see his wife moving around the kitchen trying to finish kitchen.

"You look beautiful," Damon smiled, coming up behind her to pull her into his arms.

"Damon," She turned and planted one on his lips. She missed him so much. She didn't like that when he was gone on the few trips he went on he was gone for weeks at a time. But she was thankful that he didn't have to leave that often, and she knew it could be way worse.

"Will you gather everyone, so we can eat," Elena asked.

"Of course," Damon smiled giving her a kiss.

As Elena sat around the table with her family she couldn't be happier. Damon was talking with their kids trying to figure out what he missed while he was gone, Elena smiled. He was such a great dad; he was a great man who was able to provide for his family. She was so happy and wouldn't change anything for the world.

**THE END**

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**These are their kids:**

Liam 14 Addison 11 Drew 8 Kole 5 Alex 5 Ryan 3 Nora 6 months old

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I just want to say thank you guys so much. This has been one of my most sucessful stories and I couldn't do it with out the support from my readers. I want to thank everyone who has read, favorited, followed and revied this story. I hope to be posting a new story up soon so check back soon to see whats up!

Thank you so much!


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